Red Roses drip of blood
by HungerWho37
Summary: Ontop of the coffin is a bed of roses. A bed of white roses as a symbol of memorial of the dead boy inside, about to be buried. The colour white symbolizes cleansing, purity, shining beauty. Among the white roses is a red one, a warning, a threat, and a clear message: 'I know what you are.' This rose is different though, it isn't red by grown nature, this rose drips of blood.
1. A gremlin dressed as a monk

**A/N: OK guys, I'm new to writing for this fandom and . . . *flinches* I've only ever watched the movie of this. I'm not saying I'm a major fan or I know everything about it because I don't. I've only ever watched the movie. Please feel free to insult me for this. I've done it before for other fandoms so I need to be able to take what I dish out. Still, I just want to make it clear that this is based off what I know from the movie and such. **

**I know how annoying it can be to have someone who has just watched a movie based off a book series get on like they know everything but that's not what I'm doing. I just wanted to write a fic from it because I love the movie so much! I know I probably know nothing since I haven't read the books but give me a chance?**

**Don't get me wrong, I want to read the books some time but my mum won't buy me any of them because I got loads of books for christmas and she won't get me any more until I read all of them. I will read them someday though. Hopefully someday soon.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Darren Shan's characters or ideas.**

Chapter One- The Gremlin dressed as a monk

My name's Scarlet. You know, like the colour? Call me Scar though. Everyone else seems to do so. Quite ironicly you'll later discover: Scarlet is the colour of blood.

If somone says a sentence with the words, 'Fangs,' 'Blood,' 'Crucifix,' or 'Holy Water,' then you'll immediately think of a vampire. Unless you're like my little cousin who thought of an injured bat hung on a crucifix while being soaked in holy water, but most of the time, you'll think of a vampire. Then lead on from the word vampire you either think of the pretty ones like Edward Cullen or those ugly things from Salem's Lot. I, for one, choose Salme's Lot over the Cullen Clan. Much more gruesome . . . much more . . . statisfying.

As you water down the timeline of words, you'll eventually reach the fact that vampires drink blood. You never saw fangs in Twilight, they just sort of bit and sucked. What? Do they have super teeth or something? I have no idea but I know it put me off the films. Apart from the sucky love story that was what put me off the films. I prefer Van Hesling or Salem's Lot where they're not afraid to make you jump out of your skin and witness blood and gore. That's who I'am. It's in my nature.

Give me a spider, I'll squash it. Give me a tranlantula, I'll poke it with a stick to make it mad. Give me a daddy long legs, I'll pull off all the legs and watch it suffer. I _hate_ spiders.

I was walking down the road when the green flyer arrived. Someone slipped it out of their car window as they passed by me. (By the way, who owns a purple car these days?) The wind immediately picked it up and blew it towards me, making it land at my feet. I picked it up-obviously, who wouldn't?-and read the title.

_Cirque Du Freak, One night only. The world's greatest freak show for 500 years._

I'm not one for following random flyers, especially ones chucked out of purple cars, and listening to where they tell me to go but something about this freakshow makes me want to go. Even now, staring at the flyer on my way to the old theater, I wonder what I'm even doing. It's late. _Really _late. I should be at home. My mom will kill me if she finds out I'm gone. Still, doesn't stop me going. Plus, it's a _freakshow!_ Maybe I'll see something really gross! Now that would be awesome.

"Back in three seconds?" A voice in the distance says. "What?" I head closer to the theatre and continue to listen to the voices ahead.

"One. Two. Three. There, it's been three seconds," a different voice says. When I'm finally close enough to see who the two people are, I blurt out:

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!"

It's not that I hate Darren Shan and Steve Leonard, it's just . . . I don't particually like them. Darren is too much of a posh goody two shoes and Steve thinks he's badass. I keep my distance from people like them, I don't really get on well with them. I'm not sure they favour me in particular either.

Both boys whip their heads round and stare at me. Darren sighs inaudiabley before stuffing his hands in pockets while Steve makes his sigh more noticable-making his irritation clear- before asking, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"What am _I _doing here?" I ask. "What are _you _doing here?" I need to be careful, freakshows are apparently illegal, and if these two are just out for a casual stroll then I can't let them know my true intentions, breaking the law normally leads to jail. Well, that's what Mr. Kersey says anyway. He found someone else in a different class with a Cirque Du Freak flyer and ended up lecturing all his classes about how he expects no-one to be going and how it's digusting and inmoral etc. etc. "Aw, don't tell me your the reason Mr.'What you got for me,' prattled on for ages about the idioticy of freakshows," I sigh. Darren coughs and picks up the 'Back in three seconds,' notice to closely examine it. I throw a glare at him. "You ass! Do you know how brain melting that lecture was?!"

"Oh go play with a ball of string or something," Steve mutters, snatching the sign from Darren.

"That was one time! And I was only showing my cat how to do it," I snap. Don't ask . . . Just . . . don't.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yada, yada, yada," Steve replies, kicking the stand in which the sign sat on. If looks could kill I'd have vaporised him by now. Cocky piece of-

A panel in the bottom of the stand opens and a small note is chucked out. Steve picks it up and reads it. "Money," he says.

"They want money," Darren voices.

"You didn't think they were going to let us in for free did you?" I scoff, shoving my hands into my pockets and searching for the ten pounds I had put in before I left. Steve gets his own money out while Darren hands in his own share. Holding the money infront of the panel, Steve says, "Uh . . . two tickets please?"

"Three," I correct irritabley, shoving my own money into his hands.

Something suddenly lurches out of the wooden panel, snatching the money. All I catch is the glint of pointy teeth and a high growl before the panel is snapped shut again. The three of us stare at the panel, dumbstruck.

"Did we just get conned by a gremlin?" I ask after a couple of moments of shock.

"Hey, he took our money!" Steve snaps, knocking on the panel. "We gave you your money now give us our tickets!"

The panel flings open again and a gremlin in monk dress lurches out and bites Steve's hand. "Holy shit!" he exclaims, sucking on his bit finger.

"What was that thing?" Darren frowns.

"A Monk Gremlin?" I suggest. I take Steve's wrist and examine the bite. "Pssh, it's just a small bite. You'll be fine. I'm sure the mighty Steve Leonard can survive a small bite anyway." The last part is muttered under my breath but I still earn a glare.

Three tickets are flung out of the panel and flutter to the ground. I snatch mine up and head towards the theater, not looking back. Darren and Steve still catch up with me though.

"I didn't know you were into this type of thing Scarlet," Darren says quietly as we walk down a red carpeted corridor towards the main theater room.

"Oh . . . yeah, sure. Anything gross is my type of scene," I reply. It's true. When all the other little girls were playing with Barbie dolls, dressing them and pampering them, I was shearing their hair off, colouring the sheared head blue and scribbling over their faces. Then when teenagers worried about their make-up, I worried about whether my pot of bouncy slime would dry out or not.

"Yeah, that's why people call her Scar, because she had photos of her mom's gall stone operation scars on her phone once," Steve puts in, nudging me with his elbow. What? She got _staples._ Like, proper staples! The type you'd use to staple pieces of paper together! I wanted a photo because it looked all Frankenstein like and I wanted to have a proper look when I got home from visiting her in hospital.

"It's your fault everyone found out about that," I say coldly.

"Hey, don't blame me, I was just looking for someone on your contacts to send a prank text to and _bam!_ there it was! Frankenstein stomach!"

"Oh do shut up," I snap.

"I bet you still have it on," Steve teases.

"Just shut up Steve," Darren sighs. "I bet there's a reasonable explanation why she'd have a-"

"_Do _you still have it?" Steve pushes.

"No," I reply unconvincinly. "Of course I don't!"

A tall man suddenly steps out of an aclove, almost making the three of us bang right into him. When I say 'a tall man,' I mean 'a_ tall _man.' He's huge! My neck hurts just looking up at him!

"Are you 21?" he asks, his voice deep and hushed but audible, basically, it sends a shiver down my spine. The three of us don't answer him so he says, "Say yes." I want to answer him, tell him yes with the ease I normally lie with but my voice catches in my throat and a squeak comes out. I think the same happens Darren because Steve is the one who ends up answering.

"Yes," he says.

"You don't have a tendancy towards panic, sudden cardiac arrest or crippling anixety do you?" The tall man asks. We're silent again. "Say no."

This time the three of us manage a reply. "No."

He holds his palm out flat for us to place our tickets on before saying,

"Then welcome to the Cirque."

I scoot around him and head into the main theater room. There's a semi circle of chairs on the stage with many people sitting on them. "Wow, I wonder if this place would set off an echo," Steve muses. Darren quickly slaps his hand over Steve's mouth as he opens it to yell.

"Shut up numbskull," I hiss.

Steve slaps Darren's hand away and snaps, "Or what?"

"Or I'll show you the real reason people call me Scar," I reply. My temper also isn't the best. You challenge me and I'll step up to it.

"Come on then, hit me with your best shot," Steve fires back.

We both take a step towards each other when Darren squeezes himself between us. "OK, time out," he says. "Look! There's some seats!" He runs down the aisle and drops himself onto a spare seat. Steve and I glare at each other before conseeding and following Darren's lead. Once Steve sits down beside Darren I go on my tiptoes and look for another seat further away from these two idiots.

I don't find any.

"Come on Scar, aren'tcha gonna sit down?" Steve teases, reaching over Darren and patting the spare seat beside his friend. Sighing heavily, I drop onto the seat and fold my arms in irritation.

As soon as I'm seated, the room darkens and some really omnious music begins to play as the tall man from the corridor comes out from backstage and smiles.

"Good evening all, and welcome to the Cirque Du Freak!"

**A/N: Um, so yeah, I hope the 'I haven't read the books thing' hasn't put you off but please give me a chance? Also, please leave off a review? I'd appreciate it :)**


	2. How the hell did I end up here?

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's chapter two! Hope you like it :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Darren Shan's characters or plotlines.**

**Warnings: Based off the movie, not the books. Sorry :/**

Chapter Two-How the hell did I end up here?

Oh my god, this cirque is epic. These people are so gross and freaky and just plain awesome! So far there's been a wolfman, a woman who can grow limbs back, a man with no stomach, a man with _two_ stomachs, a small guy with a _giant_ forehead, a woman with gigantic teeth, a snake boy and a exotic woman who can grow a beard by her own will! These people are just amazing!

The only downside of this is that Steve is being such an idiot. Laughing, whispering things and calling out and making it look like it was Darren who did it. There has been at least five occasions when I've wanted to knock him out so I can watch in peace. Only I'm not that strong. And I don't want to get stupid on my fist.

The next act to come on is a man called Mr. Crepsley who did a spiel about our awful town. I don't see what his freakish issue is until he starts talking about a spider being on the loose. I immediately tense, gripping the sides of my chair and looking around myself wildly. Even worse, the bloody thing's posionous! Darren looks at me in concern while Steve gives me a shit eating grin that I just want to wipe off his stupid face.

When Mr. Crepsley makes the spider jump out of his hat, I'm relieved momentarily that he was joking about it being on the loose, but suddenly paniced when I see the size of it. It's massive! It's red and blue and is called Madam Octa. What the hell? Who gives a spider a _name!_ The weird thing is, as soon as he seen Madam Octa, Darren went into a trance of some sort.

"She's beautiful," he murmers under his breath.

"Are you crazy!?" I hiss. "It's a spider!"

"_She's_ a spider," he corrects.

"What?!"

"His name's not Larten Crepsley," Steve suddenly whispers. "That's Vur Horstein. He's a vampire!"

"Excuse me?!" I exclaim.

"I saw a painting of him in one of my vampire books," Steve explains to Darren. "It's him, he's got the same scars, same hair, same everthing."

"Are you high?!" I hiss. "What's wrong with you!?"

Madam Octa suddenly comes flying out of Mr. Crepsley's hands and lands right on Darren's knee. Everyone screams and shrieks, thinking the spider's on the loose; Steve pushing his chair backwards in horror while I scream and try and do the same, failing miserably as my chair catches on something and goes flying backwards. I scramble to my feet to gain my dignity back and eye the spider cautiously, waiting for it's next move. But Madam Octa doesn't move, she just sits on Darren's knee while Darren himself stares at the bloody thing like he's in love with it! He's a freakin' nut!

"Can I have my spider back?" Mr. Crepsley asks, snapping Darren out of his trance and gathering Madam Octa into a cage. "And children, vampires don't exist. But, if they did, and they thought someone knew about it, they might just smother them in their sleep."

Did he just _threaten_ us?!

The lights suddenly turn on and the theater doors are swung open. "OK everyone, show's over!" An all too famailar voice yells.

"Is that Mr. Kersey?" Darren asks.

Steve turns in his seat and swears, which confirms that it is indeed, our teacher.

"Every man for himself!" I yell, throwing my jacket over my head and bolting for the door. I push through Mr. Kersey's band of party wreckers and slip out the door before anyone can protest or notice me.

I run all the way home, the bottom of my jeans getting soaked in puddles and cold rain soaking me through. I climb through my bedroom window and fall inside, landing on my stomach on the carpet.

"Scarlet?" My mother calls. Shit. "Scarlet? What's wrong?"

Mum opens my door and peers in at me. "Sweetheart, I heard a thump. Are you OK?"

"Yeah mum, I'm fine," I answer into the carpet.

"Why's your window open?"

"I was warm."

"But it's raining," mum unhelpfully points out.

"I'm aware."

Mum sighs and perches on the edge of my bed. "What you been up to today then Scar?" she asks. I frown into the carpet when she calls me by my nickname. Still, once the question is asked, I can't stop the images of snake boys, bearded ladies and weird spiders flashing into my mind.

"Nothing," I lie. I don't keep up conversations with my mum. I don't trust her. Years ago, when I was a little girl, mum was put on trial for a molestation accusation of a student in her History class. The accusation wasn't solid enough though, and she didn't go to prison. She lost her job, but that was it. I've met the boy before, and my mother has scarred him for life. I believe him because it's not something to lie or joke about. And this boy was geueinely scarred. And my mother gets on as if she hasn't done nothing wrong.

No, I no longer love my mother.

She sighs, knowing she's getting nowhere, and leaves my room. I get off the floor, shut my window and flop onto my bed, falling into my usual deep, dreamless sleep.

~xXx~

"Sir, I need to go to the bathroom," I say, waving my hand in the air in maths class the next day at school.

"Couldn't you have went during break?" My maths teacher asks, clearly exasperated.

"Well excuse me for not fixing my pee schedule," I scoff sarcastically. The class sniggers and I throw a glare at them that makes them all stop.

"Fine, go," he sighs. I slip out of my seat, descreetly grabbing my book bag and heading out the door. As I'm walking down the deserted corridor, I strike up a cheery whistling tune. This is what I do most days. Go to school, get marked in, then tell my fourth period teacher I'm going to the bathroom and never come back. You'd think they'd notice a pattern by now but all of my teachers must be dumbasses.

"You stole from a vampire?! Your a dead man! Do you hear me? A dead man!"

I turn a corner to find Darren and Steve argueing in hushed tones by their lockers. What are the odds? I barely see these two guys in passing and now twice within 24 hours? My luck is crap.

"What did you steal?" I ask, approaching them.

"Nothing," Darren says a bit too quickly, shoving his backpack into his locker.

"Doesn't seem like nothing," I reply once I reach them.

"Mind your own buisness Frankenstein," Steve snaps.

"Oh, OK, I'm sure the principal will be delighted to know that either one or both of you have 'stolen' something," I answer, folding my arms and quirking an eyebrow. Darren looks terrified while Steve glares at me. It's the same glare he gave Billy Utsch in the third grade before he punched his lights out for hurting Darren. "Let me see," I insist, opening Darren's locker and grabbing his bag. I open it up and recognize the cage inside almost immediatey. While shrieking I throw the bag back in the locker.

"Your a dead man Shan," Steve says.

"That's the bloody spider!" I yell. Darren shushes me and I sigh before lowering my tone. "That thing is poisonous! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Let me see it," Steve says, opening the locker and pulling the cage out of the bag. Madam Octa sits inside, looking as freaky and weird as I remember her to be. "Wow, this thing is even uglier up close."

The bell goes, causing the three of us to jump out of our skin and making Steve drop the cage onto the floor. The barred door flies open and Madam Octa surries out as the halls begin to fill with people. Darren yelps and reaches into his pocket to pull out Mr. Crepsley's flute. Some rude students bump into him, causing the flute to fly out of his hands. Steve runs off which I momentariy think is because he's a wimp but I'm disppointed when he soon returns with a giant broom in his hands. Darren sticks his fingers into his mouth and starts whistling, as if calling a dog, as students start to scream.

I weave through the crowd, following Steve as he whacks every spot the spider was on with the broom. Darren is close behind me, still whistling away. I'm silently rooting for Steve to get the stupid thing but she keeps getting out of the way. There's one moment when he nearly gets her but Darren grabs the back of the broom and yanks it out of Steve's hands.

"What's your problem?!" I yell.

"Who's side are you on?!" Steve yells at the same time as me.

Madam Octa tries to squeeze her way through a small crack in an open window but her giant bottom half gets stuck and she struggles. Steve goes to the window and pulls it shut. I sigh in relief, thinking he's got her, but suddenly a spider shaped form starts climbing up his back, underneath his shirt. The crowd of students that have gathered start to scream and shriek as Steve goes nuts yelling, "Get it off me!"

I want to help, but I'm frozen in fear, wondering how I could help him in the first place anyway. I _don't_ touch spiders. I either poke them with sticks or hit them with my shoes. I do not, under any circumstances, touch them.

Steve stops freaking out as Madam Octa crawls out of his collar and up onto his face. I hear a small nip, like something being bitten, before Steve collapses, unconcious. Madam Octa climbs off his face and away into a classroom. No-one makes an attempt to move or help in any way. I think we're all stunned, wondering if that really did just happen.

I'm the first to snap out of it, grabbing my moblie out of my pocket and ringing 911.

_"911, what's the emergency?"_ The voice on the other end asks.

"Um, we need an ambulance," I say as calmly as I can. "There's a boy unconcious."

_"Did you see what happened?"_

"Uh . . . " What do I say?! He got bitten by a magic spider that belongs to a suspected vampire? I doubt they'd believe it. "He got bitten by a posionous spider."

There's a pause on the line and I panic in cause they think I'm pulling a prank on them. _"Ok, stay calm, we'll be right there."_ I sigh, relieved they believed me. As the line goes dead my phone is yanked out of my hands.

"You are not allowed to use moblies in school Miss. Halliday," Mr. Kersey says, putting my moblie into his pocket.

"I was calling an ambulance!" I protest, flicking my hand towards Steve's unconcious form, which no-one has dared to go near yet.

"I think the school could have managed that," Mr. Kersey says.

"Yeah, while he slowly dies!" I yell.

Darren snaps himself out of whatever crazy ass trance he was in (he's been getting a lot of those lately hasn't he?) and approaches Steve's body. I glare at Mr. Kersey before telling him to keep my phone and going over to the body too.

"This is your fault you know," I say coldly.

"I know," Darren replies, his voice barely a whisper.

"You just _had_ to take the spider," I continue. "Then you had to stop him from killing her. What is your deal?"

"I wasn't going to let him kill her," he says.

"Oh, so you let her kill him then? They don't call them posionous spiders for no reason," I reply. "Does he have any relatives that need to be called to come to the hospital?"

"I don't know. His dad's been gone for years and his mum is probably stoned right now," Darren explains.

Wow, that sounds rough. Even though I hate my mother I doubt I'd be too happy if she didn't care. As annoying as it is to have a cougar as a mother I don't think I'd want her to be stoned during the day. I can relate to the father thing. My father left mum after the student molestation accusation but didn't want me to come with him. I don't know why, he just left one night and never came back to us.

"Then who's going to go with him then? I doubt he'd be too happy to wake up to Mr. Kersey being here for him," I say. "You'll have to go."

"I know how to fix this," Darren says, pushing his way through the crowd of people and running out of sight.

"Hold on!" I yell. "You can't just leave!"

"Keep an eye on him!" Is all he says in reply. What?! I'm not a part of this! I don't want to stuck as his carer! Then again . . . no-one else is here for him. I know how that feels. Maybe I'll just go with him to the hospital.

When I say it starts an agruement, I'am not kidding. Mr. Kersey doesn't want me to go, so he argues with the paramedics that it's against school rules to let a student off the premises unless it's an emergency. I say that this _is_ an emergency and that someone needs to go with him which causes Mr. Kersey to say _he'll_ go with him.

"HA! Don't make me laugh," I say. "Like he'd want you there."

"Sir, just let her go with Mr. Leonard," one of the paramedics say. "I'll make sure she gets home safely. He holds his hand out, which I grab and use to pull myself into the ambulance. I give Mr. Kersey a small wave and a grin as the paramedic slams the doors shut.

"What's your name?" the man who told Mr. Kersey to let me come asks.

"Scarlet," I answer. "Scarlet Halliday."

"Ok Scarlet, I'm Mr. Pose. I need you to fill this form out for me," he says, handing me a clipboard and a pen. I look at the form and start to fill it out.

"Do you know what breed the spider that bit him was?" Mr. Pose asks me.

"Uh . . ." What type of spider _is_ Madam Octa? "No, I don't."

This seems to be going nowhere. How are they going to help him if they don't know what speices the spider is?

Shit, please don't let this kill Steve.

~xXx~

The waiting room. Humanity's worst enemy. The dullness, the anixety, the _waiting._ As I've said, I do not like Steve Leonard, but just because you don't like someone it doesn't mean you want to see them die. Add that worrying ontop of the wailing baby across from me and the snoring fat guy to my left, I'm defintely going to kill someone. Especially when Steve's best friend should be the one here. Where _did_ Darren go exactly? Even worse, that bloody spider is still on the loose!

A petit looking woman comes out holding a clipboard and a cup of water. She comes towards and hands the water over to me. "How are you feeling Miss?" She asks me. I look at her with incredulous eyes. What's she asking me for? _I'm _not the ill one. "I know waiting can be very stressful."

"Well, I don't know him that well," I reply, sipping the water.

"Oh," she replies. "Well, I regret to say he has went into a coma. We don't know how much longer he's got."

I stare up at her in shock. OK, shit just got real. "Is he going to die?" I ask.

"At the moment, we're not sure. All we can do is keep an eye on him," she answers. "Do you want to see him?"

I consider this for a moment. Should I go see him? Would he even want me in the same room as him? At the moment, I don't think I care. I know I'd want someone with me, even if it was my pervert mother. It doesn't feel right knowing that he's on his own when I could be there.

"Sure," I answer, getting up and following her down some corridors to where Steve is. I feel out of place in the room, especially when the nurse leaves. I sort of perch uncomfortably on the chair beside the bed. Trying to ease the awkwardness, I grab his mobile off the bedside cabinet and send a text to Darren.

_**Darren, it's Scarlet.**_

_**I'm with Steve right now. He's in a coma. Where are you?!**_

Darren texts back almost immediately.

_**Don't worry, I'm at the old theater. I'm going to sort it out. Finding an antidote.**_

I frown at the reply and ask:

_**What are you doing at the theater? How's that going to solve anything?**_

I don't get a reply. OK, that's worrying.

I sigh and look at Steve's unconcious body. I wonder if that slow beeping on the machine he's hooked up to means anything. Regular heartbeat? Irreguar? Am I just sitting by watching while his body slowly shuts down? Why is this concerning me? I find myself fiddling with my thumbs until I notice the bite on his cheek. Curious, I get off the seat and lean over the bed to look at it.

Oh my god it's so gross! I wish I had my phone with me. No, wait, that got me in a whole mess of crap the last time. I reach out and gently circle my finger round the bite. Little grey veins sprout out from it and run down his arms and probably his whole body, making him look grey and basically . . . like death. I wonder what type of spider Octa really is? She can't be your everyday posionous spider. She_ is_ blue and red after all!

I sit back down and shuffle uncomfortably, wondering what to do. I try and read a magazine that sits on the bedside cabinet but I can't settle. I look at him again and sigh, considering the only other alternative: grabbing his hand and holding it, which is apparently a sign for letting someone know you're here.

How the hell did I end up here? Sitting in the hospital, holding onto the boy I don't like's hand while he slowly dies before me.

Life is truely crazy isn't it?

~xXx~

The window opening is what wakes me up. I hadn't even realized I'd fallen asleep. My head immediately jolts off the bed and whips towards the window. Mr. Crepsley climbs through window with Darren close behind.

"What are you doing here?" I exclaim at the spider creep.

"Oh great, the third member of the crazy crew is here as well," Mr. Crepsley sighs.

"Darren, why did you bring him here?!" I ask.

"Nice to know I'm welcome," Mr. Crepsley huffs, closing the blinds as to no-one on the outside will see in. _That_ can't be good. It's then I realize I'm still holding onto Steve's hand, which I immediately drop.

"Darren, what's happening?" I ask.

"He's got an antidote to Octa's bite," Darren replies. Mr. Crepsley goes over to the side of the bed and tsks.

"She really didn't like him," he says.

"Oh _really?"_ I reply sarcastically.

"He looks bad, just give him the anitdote," Darren says.

I watch in curiousity as Mr. Crepsley takes Steve's arm and jabs his nail into a vein. "Holy shit, how sharp are your nails?!" I exclaim, jumping off the seat. "You ever heard of nail clippers?"

Mr. Crepsley glares at me before removing his nail and pressing down on it so no blood escapes. He takes out a vial of clear liquid and drinks it up into his mouth. What? Is that the antidote? What's he doing? He leans down and presses his lips against the puncture in Steve's arm. Darren leans in close too and watches as he pushes the antidote into Steve's arm through his mouth.

"Is that it?" Darren asks as Mr. Crepsley pulls away. Steve suddenly moves his head, it's a small, gentle move but it's a move all the same. "Is he going to be alright now?"

"He should be fine," Mr. Crepsley replies, heading towards the window again.

Darren pauses for a moment before lurching towards the buttons on the wall behind the bed and pressing them all, making alarms blare and a femine voice repeat, 'Code Blue, Code Blue,' over and over again.

"Stay back!" Darren says, holding his fingers up to cross into a crucifix.

"What are you doing?" I frown.

"Your really starting to annoy me," Mr. Crepsley sighs.

"Just stay away OK?!" Darren yells.

"You can ignore this forever, you won't be able to adjust to normal life. Fine, I'll go, but try and not do something stupid like kill your family," Crepsley replies. As the nurses come in, Crepsley vanishes and I run over to window and hang my head out.

"What do you mean kill his family?!" I yell, but he's nowhere to be seen.

A nurse yells at Darren, telling him he's not supposed to be here, before checking over Steve. Darren himself looks unnerved somehow, scared even. I wonder how he even got Mr. Crepsley to come here and save Steve? From the way he looked at him, he didn't seem too fond of the boy.

An extra nurse comes in and informs me that my mother has come to collect me.

"Shall I send her in?" she asks.

"No!" I exclaim. "Tell her I'll be there in a moment." The nurse nods and leaves the room.

"Is he alright?" Darren asks.

"Wow, I've never seen something so extraordinary before," the nurse looking over him says. "He's actually better. All his vitals are normal again."

"So he won't die?" I ask.

"No, I could go as far to say he'll be as good as new very soon."

I find myself relieved for some reason. I guess it's because he's not going to die. I mean, have you ever stayed with someone you barely know in the hospital as they laid helpless while you watched them die? I may be into gross and inhumane stuff, but that's just awful.

"Darren," I say, pulling him off to side. "I need to go now. Keep me posted on his condition OK? Here's my mother's number. Kersey took my phone but I'll take my mum's mobile. Just, like, send me updates and stuff."

"Sure," Darren replies, taking the buisness card with my mother's mobile number on it. "Thanks . . . for . . . uh . . . staying with him."

"No problem," I reply. "Well done, by the way, on getting an antidote."

Darren sighs and shrugs. "It cost me a lot."

"Really? How much did he ask for?"

"Doesn't matter. I'll see you at school tomorrow," Darren says.

"OK," I reply, giving his shoulder a pat and leaving out the door.

My mother's sitting in the waiting room, looking worried sick. "Scarlet! What happened? Are you hurt?!" she panics.

"No mum, it wasn't me that got hurt," I reply.

"Who did then?" she asks as we leave.

"A friend of mine," I answer.

"Scar, you don't have any friends," mum scoffs. Even through the innocent act, her true self sometimes shines through.

"Well, I do now," I reply acidly. "Two actually."

"Really?"

I pause for a moment before sighing and smiling. "Yeah. Two."

~xXx~

It took a couple of days for Steve to come back to school. I guess that's understandable. Darren was there though, and I find myself spending more and more time with him. He's actually a nice guy. Really smart. Actually, he says he can tutor me in math if I want. I do need a lot of help and a tutor would be nice.

Things began getting weird when Steve came back to school. A small group of people crowded round him, asking if he was OK and what it was like to get bitten. I sat on a desk at the front of the room, waiting for Darren to arrive so I can have someone actually worth talkng to around. When he does arrive, he smiles when he sees Steve in class. "So," he says. "He's back isn't he huh? So Steve, what'cha got for me!" As he says this he drags his fingernails along the blackboard, just like Mr. Kersey does. The only difference is that his nails splinter and rip the board, as if his nails are made of sharp shards of glass or something. Everyone gapes at him in shock, including me, and Darren stares at his hand in horror.

"Hey," I say, getting off the table and walking over to him. "How the hell did you do that?"

"I don't know," he shrugs. "I guess I just need to cut my nails."

"No, just needing to cut your nails is when they're getting a bit pointy, not when they rip the blackboard," I reply. "Let me see." I reach out to take his hands and look at his nails but he retracts it quickly.

"No, no, no, that's unnessicary," he says. With that, he sits down and doesn't talk for the rest of the day.

~xXx~

I sit on the wall by the entrance to the school the next day, playing Super Mario on my gameboy, when I feel a presence beside me. I pause the game and look down to find Steve sitting on the steps beside the wall. "Darren told me," he says.

"Told you what?" I ask.

"That you were at the hospital."

"Oh."

There's an awkward pause where I flick my eyes between Steve and my gameboy screen.

"Thanks . . . you know . . . for being there," he says.

"Oh, no problem," I reply. "It was nothing. I was really only in it to get a look at the bite." The bite is only a small blemish now but it's still noticable on his face.

Steve laughs and turns his head to look at me. "Did you get a photo of it on your phone?"

"No, sadly Mr. Kersey took my phone off me when I rang an ambulance without his permission," I reply.

"Sounds like him," Steve mutters irritabley.

"I know right?" I laugh. "I don't get it back to the end of the week."

"If I was given a chance to kill _anyone_ I wanted, then he would be at the top of my list," Steve says. "Then it would be my mum and her boyfriend."

"Hmmm," I reply. "I guess I wouldn't mind picking my mother off too."

"At the cirque," Steve begins. "You seemed freaked out when I said Vur Horstein was a vampire. Do you not . . . like . . . not believe in vampires or something?"

"It's not that I don't believe in them as such, but my only experiences with vampires have been the pretty ones from the Twilight Saga or the really messed up looking ones from Salem's Lot if you know what I mean. I don't like the idea of the Cullens existing but I think it would be awesome for the Salem's ones to be real I guess," I answer. "Why? Do you believe in vampires?"

"Well, Vur Horstein is one," Steve states.

"Who? Larten?" I ask.

"Yeah, like I said, from my painting in my book," Steve replies.

"So your really into the vampire stuff then?" I question, setting my gameboy onto the wall and sitting up straighter.

"Yeah, I love them," he answers. "I know everything you could about them."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but apparently I have bad blood," he mutters.

"What?" I frown.

"I have _bad blood,_" he says with quotion gestures at the words, 'bad blood.'

"Who told you that?"

"Doesn't matter," Steve says, waving it off dismissivly. I'm too tired to push the matter so I just sigh and start up my gameboy again. As I play, I hear some heavy footsteps and some panting as someone runs to the school. One of Darren's friends, I can't remember his name, and looks paniced and shocked.

"What's wrong with you?" I ask.

"Darren," the kid pants. "He's . . . he's . . ."

"He's what?" Steve asks irrtabley. Ok, someone has bad patience.

The boy sighs and looks at us before answering.

"Darren's dead."

**A/N: If you read this, could you take a moment just to drop off a review please? Thanks, it'd mean a lot to me :)**


	3. Mr Tiny comes a callin'

**A/N: Here's chapter three! Big thanks to my reviewers 'awesomeredvampire' and 'Alaska F. Braginski.'**

**Darren won't be in maybe the next two chapters (except his body at the funeral) but that's because he's 'dead'. But believe me, he will be coming back soon.**

**Warnings: Based on the movie, not the book, and I have my own OC in the events of the story.**

Chapter Three-Mr. Tiny comes a callin'

Crying. Flowers. Grieving. More crying. Sad words. Upsetting speeches. Coffins. A dead body. This is the funeral of Darren Shan.

His parents found him in his front garden a couple of days ago with a broken neck. By the looks of it he had fallen off his roof. What was he doing on his roof anyway? Did he often spend a lot of time on the roof of his house? Sounds a bit fishy.

Steve has been indifferent. Well, seemily indifferent. Maybe there's pain under his expressionless features, I just don't know. Maybe he's fighting it? I've never dealt with death so I don't know how to deal with grieveing relations or close friends. I don't even feel like I deserve to be here at the funeral.

Still, here I'am. Feeling out of place and awkward as people cry and comfort Darren's family. I stick by Steve's side through the whole thing because he's the only one here I know. Well, bar Mr. Kersey but I'm going nowhere near him.

"Give me your gameboy," Steve whispers to me.

"What?" I whisper back.

"Give me your gameboy," he repeats.

"No," I reply. "I need my gameboy!" Steve sighs and pulls my gameboy out of my back jean's pocket. "Hey!" He ignores me and goes over to the coffin, putting the game into Darren's cold hands. I run over to him and hiss, "What are you doing?!"

"Darren always wanted a gameboy," he says while chewing some gum. "Now he can have one."

"That's mine!" I protest.

"And Darren's dead," he hisses. "Life sucks, get over it."

I want to get my gameboy back but it'd look like I'm plucking it out of his cold dead hands, which I guess I would be. I sigh and put my hands into my jacket pockets. I guess I'll need to save up for another one.

"I hate you so much for leaving me here with these idiots," Steve says to Darren's body.

"Thanks," I mutter.

Steve ignores me, taking one of Darren's hands and looking at the fingertips. "Darren?" He says quietly before yelling, "Hey shan! Ass-wipe, are you in there?! Darren!" I jump out of my skin at this and push him.

"Shut up! He's dead!" I hiss.

"No he's not!" Steve snaps, looking at his hands.

"Stop yelling!" I grab his arm and push him out the door as people begin to stare and Darren's family cry even more. Steve barges on ahead, pulling the piece of gum out of his mouth and throwing it onto the floor. "That's disgusting!" I bend down with a tissue to pick it up when someone with a deep jolly voice says:

"I've got it."

I straighten back up and frown as a fat man in fine clothing bends down and picks the gum up with a pair of tiny tweezers before dropping it into a small glass box. I scrunch my nose up in disgust at the mangled piece of gum sitting in the box. I suddenly sneeze into the tissue in my hand and wiggle my nose. "Is there a bin near by?"

"Here," The fat man says, plucking the tissue out of my hands with his tweezers. "I'll sort it out."

I frown but nod. "Thanks." When I leave the building I find Steve pacing outside. "What was that?! You just started yelling! His family and friends are in there you know!"

"You wouldn't understand," Steve replies, waving my yelling off.

"You don't yell at a dead body Steve!" I snap. "Look, I know you've been friends with him since like . . . what was it? Third grade? I know it's hard to except he's dead, but he _is_, and your just going to have to deal with it."

Steve blows a raspberry and shakes his head. "Nah, I'm not going to do that," he says.

"What's wrong with you?" I snap. "This is a _funeral!"_

"I know what it is!"

"Then grieve!" I yell. "Be sad!" A couple of passer bys frown at me but I resist the urge to yell at them to mind their own buisness and keep my eyes locked on Steve. "Your best friend's dead! Act like you care! Now we're going to go to the graveyard, bury Daren and we're going to move on! OK? It'll be hard but you can do it, alright?!"

"Alright!"

"Good!"

~xXx~

The white rose in my hands keep pricking my fingers so I've started a game of tossing it from one hand to another. At one point, Steve nudges me, causing me to drop it onto the grass. After that I hold it from the bottom of the stem, ignoring the thorns. The coffin is already covered in white roses though. It looks so dull. Steve and I both go up to desposit our roses on the coffin but both stop at the same time as a blur of colour suddenly rushes past us, kicking up a wind around us. I shake it off and so does Steve, and we both go to leave our roses off.

I frown as I look down at the coffin and Steve does too. Amongst the bunch of white roses, sitting in the middle is a single red rose. It glistens in the sunlight as if it's wet and looks out of place amongst the white ones. It's not natural red because smears of the same colour has come off on it's white cousins and as I lay my own rose down on the top of the coffin, some of it smears onto my own hand.

After the funeral and the crowd clears away, Steve and I stand by Darren's grave, just staring at it. The gravestone says a few nice words and the grave itself is covered in colourful flowers and some memorial ordaments. As I say a silent prayer, out of the corner of my eye I notice Steve cautiously lifting his hand to his mouth and sucking something off.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"It tastes . . . metallic," he replies, a frown forming on his face.

"What does?"

"That red stuff that came off that rose."

"The . . . red . . . stuff?" I ask, feigning ignorance.

He rolls his eyes and sighs in annoyance. "You know what I'm talking about, it's all over your hands." I examine my own hand and look at the red smears coating the sides of my palms. Curious, I suck some of it of. Yeah, definetly metallic. Almost like when your a little kid and you scab your knee for the first time and wonder what the red stuff oozing from the wound is so you dip your finger in it and dab it on your tongue. Almost-

"It's blood," Steve says.

"It is not," I reply.

"Someone has put a blood coated rose ontop of Darren's coffin."

"It's not blood!"

"Oh so someone went through all the trouble just to paint their rose red and keep it in perfect condition at the same time?" Steve scoffs.

"They might have," I reason, knowing it's unlikely.

"I think it's a warning," he replies.

"A warning of what?" I exclaim.

"I don't know."

"Oh well that helps," I scoff. "That helps a lot."

~xXx~

_"We're all going on a summer holiday, no more working for me and you,"_ I hum as I skip down the school corridor. Darren's been dead for a week and has been buried for forty eight hours. I haven't seen Steve, he's been skipping class a lot._ "Fun and laughter on a summer holiday, no more working for me and you, for a week or two. We're going-" _I'm cut off by a door slamming shut. I look for source of the noise and find the door leading to the roof swinging on it's hinges.

Ever the curious, I open the door to the fire escape and quietly walk up the spiral staircase to the roof. Once at the top, I peer through the service door to see Steve out on the edge of the roof. His mouth's moving, but I can't hear anything. The door's blocking whoever he's talking to so I try and shift my position to see who it is. The small silt my door has made still isn't big enough for me to see who he's talking to so I try and manover my position to get stick my head out a little. In doing so I go over on my ankle and stumble smack flat into the door causing it to fly open and making me fall out onto the roof.

"Shit," I groan, pushing myself off the floor. I lift my head up and see Steve glaring at me. Like proper glare. The type that makes your stomach churn in fear of what you did. Beside him, very probably the person he was talking to, is a big man holding a bag of sweets. "Hold on, your that guy from the funeral!" I exclaim, clambouring to my feet. "You picked the gum off the floor!"

"Ah yes, my dear, my name's Mr. Tiny," the man says. "Are you the one known as Scarlet?"

"Um, no, I'm the one known as . . . Paige . . . Dediade?" I lie unconvincenly. Steve snorts and bursts out laughing. "Why ever are you laughing?" I mock gasp. "That is my name!"

"It's not her name," Steve says to Mr. Tiny, who nods in knowing.

"It is though," I insist. "I'm Paige Dediade!"

"Don't lie to me my dear, it never ends up well," Mr. Tiny says.

"Her name's Scarlet Halliday," Steve says, throwing me a look. "And she's a pain in the ass."

"Oh and like your not one," I scoff. "What are doing up here anyway?"

"I think I can answer that Scarlet," Mr. Tiny interjects. "I was just proposing something for young Steve here."

"Huh?"

"Well, it's for you too but I wasn't sure if you were the person I was looking for or not," Mr. Tiny continues. "Scarlet Halliday and Steve Leonard, yes?"

"No?" I try one last time.

"Give it up Scarlet," Steve sighs irritablely. "No-one's buying it."

"I was told not to talk to strangers," I state, folding my arms. "Especially not creepy ones."

"Oh but my dear girl, this is an oppurtunity that you'd be an idiot to pass up," Mr. Tiny says.

"Oh? What's that then?" I scoff.

"You know, I love both your DNA's," Mr. Tiny replies. "So dark, evil and perfect for what I need."

"What are you talking about?" I frown. "Steve, has this guy hit his head?"

"Why do we even need her?" Steve asks Mr. Tiny.

"We don't," Mr. T answers. "She's not nessecary but it's very rare you find DNA like the both of yours."

"Can't you just . . . I don't know . . . ignore it?" Steve frowns. Do they realize I'm right here? It seems like a 'behind closed doors' conversation. DNA? What does that even mean? Hold on . . . is this something to do with Steve thinking he has bad blood? Or was it that someone told him he has bad blood?

Mr. Tiny sighs and sticks another sweet into his mouth. "Think of it this way," he says, his hushed and quiet. "The book said that there would be two best friends and girl that is the enemy of one. You would be the one leading the army, not her, she'll be practically under your authority. Wouldn't you want that?"

A devilish grin spreads across Steve's face, one I immediately dislike. "Excuse me? _Under_ his authority?" I scoff. "What are you talking about?"

"All in good time my dear, all in good time. Right now we must go," Mr. Tiny says.

"_You_ must go," I contradict.

"Are you defying me?" Mr. Tiny asks.

"What are you? My father?" I scoff.

"No, but I will be. Steve, please get her and follow me."

Steve rolls his eyes and goes over and throws me over his shoulder. "Oh my god! Steve, put me down!" I tell, pounding my fists on his back. "Put me down!"

"Follow me young Steve," Mr. Tiny says, walking past us and down the service stairs. "So much to do, so little time."

Steve sighs and follows him down the stairs. "OK put me down now before I KILL you!" I yell, struggling to free myself.

"That's the type of can do attitude we're looking for!" Mr. Tiny calls back.

"This is CRAZY! You're both crazy! Put me down right now or I swear to god-"

"Oh shut up you moan," Steve hisses.

"Put me down then you . . . you . . . kidnapper!"

Steve actually has the gall to burst out laughing at me. I grab the hair on his head and start puling as hard as I can. "Ow! Stop that!"

"No!" Grabbing another handful of hair, I pull again.

"Stop it!"

"We're almost there Steve," Mr. Tiny says.

"Thank god!"

They go out a back entrance I didn't even know existed and head over towards a car parked behind the school. It's the purple car! The one that the cirque flyer came out of! OK, this is starting to get too weird.

Once out of the gates surrounding the school, I kick the struggling up a notch, holding up two fingers and firing them at Steve's eyes. Of course he knows how to deflect this but he has to let one arm go off me to slap his hand vertically against his nose. Using that moment as an oppurtunity, I twist round and bite his shoulder.

"OW!" He yells, letting me go completely. I drop to the ground, stumbling over to him and ramming my head into his stomach to rugby tackle him. "I'm going to kill you!" I scream, running him over to the ground.

"Not if I kill you first!" Steve yells back, grabbing my own hair and yanking it too.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" I grab the wrist of the hand that's pulling my hair and try and twist it. Steve yells in pain and presses his palm against my face, pushing me back.

"Both of you behave!" Mr. Tiny suddenly yells with the authority of a father scolding his children. His voice actually stops the both of us in our tracks, so we look at him in what I can only think of as fear. Something in my brain, an instinct of some sort, screams at me to listen to him. I think it happens to Steve as well because we both seperate as quick as lightening and stand apart. A smile almost immediately appears on Mr. Tiny's face, as if he never shouted at all, and points his cane at the door, making it swing open. "Please," he smiles, "Get in."

Steve stuffs his hands into his pockets and slumps before moaning like a chatised child and getting into the car.

"Have you ever heard of 'don't get into a stranger's car'?" I ask. The whole sentence sounds crazy since I'm clambouring in after him. Mr. Tiny then climbs in after us and shuts the door, the car almost immediately taking off down the road.

Once inside I note that the car is more like a limo, the inside being very spacious and having fancy leather seats facing each other. Wow, I wonder how many cows died just to make one seat. Steve and I are seated on the seat whose back is to the driver while Mr. Tiny sits on the one across from us with another man who's already in the car. The man is very greasy looking and his teeth are disgusting, dirty and pointed at the ends. Has this dude ever heard of toothpaste?

"Steve, Scarlet, this is Murlaugh," Mr. Tiny says. "Murlaugh, this is Steve and Scarlet." Neither Steve or I make an attempt to say hello, still wondering what's happening. Well, I'am. Something tells me Steve knows something about what's going on. What if we are being kidnapped? Just very fomally by a jolly man who could dress up as Santa at the mall around Christmas time and his greasy elf who's taller than him.

"Um . . . can I ask . . . what the heck's going on?" I ask.

"Your DNA is just what I need to acomplish my one aim," Mr. Tiny says.

"What's your aim?" I ask.

"A war. A gigantic war," Mr. Tiny replies.

"Between who?"

"The vampires and vampaneze."

_"Who?!"_

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that," Steve says. "You mentioned vampaneze, what the hell are they?"

"Vampires don't kill when they drink blood," Mr. Tiny replies. "No matter what those crazy rumours say. Vampaneze, on the other hand, do. There's been a big disagreement over this, settled by a truce which has lasted over a hundred years now."

"Vampires don't exist," I reply, crossing my legs. "Never mind pretend ones. Vampaneze? Pff, they don't even exist exist. Yeah, I said it twice. It's to prove the point!"

"Don't speak like your so smart," Murlaugh says. "Your nothing but a bag of blood."

"Yeah, and your nothing but a bag of grease," Steve retorts.

A grin spreads across Murlaugh's face and he chuckles. "I like you," he says.

"You'd have to anyway," Mr. Tiny says. "Your going to be their mentor."

I'm completely lost by now. What's going on? Seriously. I feel left out of the loop, like the odd person who got dragged into the wrong thing and everyone else knows what's going on but you.

"Mentor us for what?" I ask.

Mr. Tiny just gives me a knowing smile and answers, "Your destiny."

**A/N: There's chapter three! Hope you enjoyed it! :)**

**Please R&R :D**


	4. The lists we make

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry, slightly shorter chapter but I've been busy.**

**My cousin let me borrow the first two volumes of the manga, 'The Saga of Darren Shan,' and I finished both of them in one night. I also watched the movie with my mum and once it was over I asked her if I could get the 12 books from the series and she ordered me books 1-6 on the internet! I can't wait to read them! **

**Warnings: OC used in story. Still based off the movie but I'm trying to recustomize it to match up with what I know from the Mangas so bear with me.**

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Darren Shan. (Apart from Scarlet)**

Chapter Four-The lists we made

If you had of told me last week that I was going to be turned into a vampire, I would have laughed in your face and told you to catch yourself on. Yet here I'am. With Steve and Murlaugh. Going to kill Mr. Kersey.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Being turned into a vampire. I mean, at first I thought it was crazy. I stuck with the belief that vampires didn't exist all the way up to the point in which Murlaugh stabbed me and exchanged my blood with his. It disgusts me. I now have his_ blood_ inside me. Urgh. No, I try not to think about it.

Well, I'm technically not a vampire. Well, at the moment I guess I'am. Steve is too. But that's what Murlaugh's here to fix. He's going to make us kill for blood. Steve's all for it. And I guess I kinda am too. So when Murlaugh asked us was there anyone in particular we wanted to kill, Steve and I both thought of the same thing. The list. Outside the school the day Darren died Steve and I discussed the list of people we would kill if we were given the chance.

And Mr. Kersey was at the top of that list.

"I think this is his building," Steve says as we walk down the road. Murlaugh grunted in reply and fell behind us a bit as we walked.

"This is so werid," I mutter, looking at my hands if they're deformed. My nails are growing to look just like Crepsley's dagger point ones. Is that some sort of vampire/vampaneze thing? Anyway, it's pretty cool.

"I still can't believe Darren would do this to me," Steve murmers, stuffing his hands in his pockets. I try and be serious but after being blooded, Steve's hair has shocked upwards as if he'd been electrocuted. I have to cover my face with my hand to stop myself from sniggering when he looks at me.

You'd think I'd be shocked when I discovered Darren wasn't dead. I don't know why I wasn't really. I guess it didn't make any sense. The way he had landed on the ground wasn't in the right way to have broken his neck. So, no, I wasn't shocked when we were told he wasn't dead.

But when we were told he was a vampire's assitant living in a Cirque full of freaks? OK, that was a bit hard to comprehend. It was sort of mean of him I guess. Steve was the one who liked the vampires. He wanted to become the vampire (yeah, he told me. Well, I say he told me, Murlaugh kinda blurted it out when Mr. Tiny left). So why would Darren go and do that on his best friend?

"I don't know how what to say," I reply. "But you could get your revenge. I mean, we're going to become Vampaneze. Drink and become powerful. Try and fight him, yeah?"

"I guess," he replies.

We both perk up considerably when we get to Mr. Kersey's apartment. This was going to be fun. I'd be lying if I didn't say I hadn't thought of a million ways to kill my stupid teacher in the past and now the oppurtunity was being handed to me on a silver platter. Under Murlaugh's instruction of course.

Steve knocks the door and there's a moment before any movement is heard. I guess I should cut Mr. Kersey some slack. I mean, it is 3:00am.

When the door does open though, Steve and I are sure to have smiles plastered on our faces. "Hi!" we both say at once, our smiles widening at the sight of our teacher in his P.J's.

"Steve? Scarlet? What are you doing here?" Mr. Kersey frowns, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Hello Mr. Kersey," Steve says, inviting himself into the apartment while I linger in the doorway. I have a feeling he's going to be better than me at this. "We just came by to apologize for the way we've been acting lately."

"It's 3:00am!"

"Better early than late right?" I grin, finally gaining my confidence and walking in too.

Murlaugh comes in too and closes the door behind him. "My teachers tortured me when I was a lad. Beaten me, cained me, whipped me till' I was bloody. Until one day I took a broken switch and rammed it in my teacher's eyeball!" He sits down on a chair while Mr. Kersey props himself against a table.

"Who are you?" Mr. Kersey asks.

"I'm their mentor," Murlaugh replies. He stands up again and pricks Mr. Kersey's neck. The scent of blood immediately draws my attention and I feel my throat dry up in desperate thirst. "See Steve? Scarlet? This is what Crepsley wants us to live with." He steps aside and Steve and I take this as an invitation.

Feeling playful, I take off Mr. Kersey's glasses and chuck them away behind me. Steve does something even better that makes me actually laugh when he does it. Extending his fingers nails, he says, "So Mr. Kersey. What'cha got for me!" With that he stabs right across our teacher's causing him to yell in pain and something inside me sparks that I can't control. Power. Blood lust. The need for violence.

"Nice touch," I comment.

"Thanks," Steve answers.

Both of us dying of thirst and unable to take it anymore, we bite into each side of his neck and suck out the blood. It no longer tastes metallic. It tastes like every single wonderful food I have ever tasted blended into the most delicous concoction ever. Mr. Kersey's cries of protest die down into soft whimpers as life slowly escapes him. My mind doesn't seem to register that I'm killing him. I just keep going, and so does Steve.

When he his dead and sucked dry, I let go off his neck and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. I feel exhilirated, powerful, full of engery. "Can we do that again?!" I ask Murlaugh, bouncing up and down on my feet. Murlaugh grins and looks pleased.

"Of course," he says. "I think you should try and do it without my help." He hands Steve a butcher's knife and we both understand what it means. We can go and kill who we want. "Just not too many OK?"

We both nod excitedly and run out of the apartment. The world blurrs around me and I realize that I'm not running ordinarily. I'm flitting! I'm doing it! I'm flitting! We saw Murlaugh do it earlier and when had tried Steve ran into the side of a house and I ran into a brick wall. But now we're actually doing it now! Blood must be like an energy drink or something.

I follow Steve because he's faster than me. I don't know where he's going but I recognize the neighbourhood. I think this is where he lives. When we stop I almost tumble over myself at the sudden halt. Steve accumlates better to it and leaps over the fence. I clambour over too and realize we're at his house.

"Why are we here?" I ask.

"Unfinished buisness," Steve answers as he kicks his door in. "Mom! I'm home!" I follow in after him. His house seems normal enough on the interior but there's loads of uncovered secrets behind the closed doors. A man sits on the sofa in the sitting room watching t.v. I thought Darren said Steve's dad left? Steve props himself on the arm of the sofa and talks to the man quietly for a moment. I stand by the door like an unwanted visitor, wondering what's going on when suddenly Steve stabs the man in the stomach and twists it around nicely before yanking it out.

I watch as Steve laughs as the man crumples over onto the floor and starts coughing up blood. I find myself drawn to the scent of the blood but hold back as this is Steve's kill. But who is this man and why would he want to kill him? My hands clench by my sides as I watch Steve drink him dry. It gets easier once it's all done and I sigh when he stands up and wipes his mouth.

"Who was that then?" I ask.

"Mom's boyfriend," Steve answers bluntly. "Teach her a lesson. Come home and find the only person who's ever liked her dead." He walks past me and out the door. I follow him and shut the door behind me. "So, your turn." I think for a moment and flit off without another word. I feel him follow behind me and go as fast as I can to my desired destination.

I'm going to kill my mother.

My mom never works so she's home when Steve and I arrive. You think you'd feel remorse if you knew you were about to kill the woman who gave birth to you but I feel nothing.

"Hello Scarlet," mom greets. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Steve," I reply. "He's a friend."

"Pleased to met you Ms. Halliday," Steve says politely (I know right? Politely?!).

"You came just in time, I'm just getting dinner ready," Mom says.

"Oh that's fine," I reply. "We got it covered."

~xXx~

My mother lies dead on the floor in front of me. My hands are covered in blood and my lips are drenched and dripping in it. Steve stands over me in confusion, wondering what's wrong. I find that I'm sobbing. The tears silently sliding down my face and dripping into the splattered blood on the floor. I killed my mother. I killed my mother. I killed my own mother.

"What's your problem?" Steve scoffs, breaking the silence.

"I killed her!" I sob. "How could I do that?!"

"It's what your supposed to do to survive," he states in reply.

"My own mo-mother!" I cry. "I killed her just because I wanted to eat!" Steve sighs and shakes his head at me.

"I knew you'd be too weak for this," he says.

It didn't set in until she fell dead on the floor but I now realize what I've done. What I'am. I'm a monster. A killing machine.

I'm a Vampaneze.

With this realization I do the only thing I can think of.

I run.

I flit out my house and run away from Steve, I think he follows me for a bit but he gives up on that once I start crossing state borders. I can't stop running. Maybe there's something inside me that believes if I flit fast enough I can get away from it. What I've done. I helped kill Mr. Kersey. I watched Steve kill his mom's boyfriend and did nothing about it. I killed my own mother.

Yes, I'am a monster.

I run and I run and I run and I run until time runs into itself and I don't know how long I've been flitting for. Cities pass, countrysides pass, towns pass, villages, lights, cars, people, everything. I just continue to run. I keep going until my senses weaken and my perception falters and I bang right into something.

Flying backwards and ripping a hole in the ground as my back makes contact with it, I shake my head and groan. "Shit," I grumble, rubbing my head as I sit up. I look up to find what I banged into and jump slightly when I discover what it was.

Or_ who_ it was.

Because staring down at me in shock and horror is Darren Shan.

**A/N: Yay! Darren's back. I told you he wouldn't be gone for long! :D**


	5. The Cirque and Sam Grest

**A/N: He-llo! Here's chapter five! I'm getting along the lines of the books again I think using what I know from the second volume of the Manga book, 'The Saga of Darren Shan,' but still excuse the mistakes if you could please?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Darren Shan's characters or plotlines.**

Chapter Five-The Cirque and Sam Grest

"Darren!" I exclaim out of anger and a hint of relief.

"Scarlet?" Darren frowns, eyeing me warily. I suddenly become aware that my mouth and hands are drenched in blood.

"It's not what it looks like!" I say, scrambling to my feet and furiously wiping my hands on my jeans.

"Your covered in blood and your were flitting and your saying it's not what it looks like?" he scoffs. Giving up on trying to clean my hands, I rub at my mouth.

"Well, it is what it looks like," I conceed. "But I can explain."

Darren looks at me expectantly. "Go on," he says. I rack my brain for an explaination for the situtation but come up with nothing. I open my mouth to answer before closing it again multiple times.

"Scarlet . . . are you a Vampaneze?"

"Yes!" I reply. "Wait, no! I don't know anymore!"

Darren approaches me and frowns. "Did-did you kill someone?" I lower my head in shame and sniff, biting back tears.

"Yes," I mumble. I expect no sympathy what so ever. In fact, I expect him to stake me right here and now out of pure disgust. I wouldn't blame him. I deserve to die. Instead though, I get a hug. It's a bone crushing hug but I can't help but feel comforted by it.

"Oh Scarlet, what have you done," Darren murmers.

"It's not just me!" I protest, pulling away. "They got Steve too!" Darren steps back and looks horrified.

"What?" he asks.

"They got Steve too! Oh man he's crazy!" I exclaim. "He drinks till' death and feels no remorse and laughs in the face of death and they're talking about him being some Vampaneze lord and his hair has went shock block crazy and-"

"Scarlet!" Darren snaps, gripping my shoulders and shaking me. "Slow down! You said . . . Vampaneze lord?"

"Yeah," I answer. "Mr. Tiny says it's his destiny or something."

"You've met Mr. Tiny?" Darren frowns.

"Yes, have you?" I ask.

"I actually . . . kinda pissed him off."

"What did you do?!" I hiss. How could he piss off Desmond Tiny? The idiot!

"I sort of talked back," Darren answers sheepishly.

"Brave," I comment.

"Stupid," he says back. "Anyway, I think you need to talk to Mr. Crepsley."

"He's going to hate me," I state, folding my arms. "I'm a Vampaneze. I'll be an outcast. No-one'll want me. Apart from the other Vampaneze of course."

"People can change," Darren says. "We need you on our side."

"Why?"

Darren rubs the back of his neck and frowns. "Honestly? No idea. I mean, Crepsley's explained a bit of it to me but not all. I think you know stuff that might come in useful."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Come with me."

He walks off into the woods and I frown, catching up with him by a giant oak tree I ask, "Your a vampire right? Just flit. I can follow."

"I can't flit," Darren says, continueing to walk.

"Why not?"

"I don't drink blood. Well, I do, but just animal blood."

"Sounds like you've got some self control," I whisper. "Lucky you." Darren turns to look at me with pity in his eyes. This bothers me but I decide not to show it.

"I could teach you. If you like," he suggests.

I think about it. I know I never want to drink a human dry ever again so I nod. "But don't you need human blood to survive?" I ask.

"Yes," Darren states. "But would it really be a shame if we died?"

I consider this. No. It wouldn't be. My silence is answer enough for Darren and we both continue to walk in the silence. As we near the edge of the forest I realize where we're going.

The Cirque du Freak camp ground.

"Darren, no," I say. "I don't know about this. They'll hate me. I'm covered in blood!"

"Just walk around as if you own the place," Darren replies. "They won't notice."

I stuff my bloody hands into my jacket pockets and follow behind him into the camp. It's brightly lit and as colourful as a rainbow. Everything glows and gleams and bursts with life. All different sorts of freaks mill about, by their tents or walking around chatting like normal people do. I recognize some people from the Cirque Du Freak show at the theatre. The woman with the big teeth, the bearded woman and the man with no stomach. Also, the woman who could grow back limbs who, on closer inspection, I discover isn't a woman at all. She's a he!

"That's Cormac Limbs," Darren explains. "I know, I thought he was a woman too." He leads me to a tent and goes in first, holding the flap out for me to enter too. I hestiantly go in and feel immediately unwelcome. Mr. Crepsley sits with Madam Octa at a desk but he immediately locks his eyes on me as soon as I enter.

"Darren, why is she here?" he asks evenly, his tone masking his anger.

"She was turned into a Vampaneze Crepsley," Darren explains. "But she doesn't want to be that anymore."

"And what do you want me to do about it?" Crepsley asks.

"We could take her in. Like you did me," Darren suggests.

"Darren, she's drank human blood to kill, she won't be able control herself."

"But we could show her how to!"

"It's too dangerous!"

"I'll tell you anything you want to know!" I blurt out. "Anything about Tiny's plans!"

Crepsley raises his eyebrows and thinks it over for a moment before nodding. "Fine then. Tell me, fascinate me."

I breathe in a shaky breath and explain everything. "Mr. Tiny spoke of a destiny. Two friends and a girl who was the enemy to one. He said Steve and I had evil DNA or something and that's why we could become Vampaneze. But he also said about me being below Steve's authority. Apparently he's going to be Vampaneze lord or something. Lead the Vampaneze army when the truce is broken! I killed Mr. Kersey with him and my own mother but I ran away when I discovered what I'd done. I'm a monster!"

Mr. Crepsley nods and sighs. "Well, that is quite useful information," he says. "Darren, take her to Evra's tent. She can stay with you. Get her cleaned up too. You look like you got too overexcited eating a jam dounut."

"And your hair would put a pumpkin to shame," I hiss before turning and leaving the tent. As I leave I vaguely hear Mr. Crepsley murmer something.

_"She is definetly a vampaneze,"_ he had said. I ball up my fists and continue to follow Darren through the tents.

"Evra's a great guy! You'll love him!" Darren says as we weave around various coloured and patterned tents. I sigh in response he climbs into a tent and follow him inside.

Oh, Evra's the snake boy!

"Hey, Darren! Glad your back, I need to talk to you-oh, hi," Evra says, turning round and frowning at me.

"Evra, this is Scarlet. Scarlet, this is Evra Von," Darren explains.

Evra looks even more snakelike up close. His skin is green and scaly but isn't as apalling as I thought it'd be. He actually looks like a normal teenager. You know, with green skin and peeling scales.

"Pleased to meet you Evra," I say.

"Likewise?" Evra replies, sounding more like he's asking a question than making a statement.

"Evra, Scarlet's going to be staying with us. She's a vampire," Darren explains. I wonder why he says I'm a vampire but realize that he can't go around telling people I'm Vampaneze or no-one would like me. In fact they'd probably want me gone immediately.

"Been hungry?" Evra asks, his gaze flicking towards my bloody mouth. I find myself blushing as I try and rub my mouth clean again.

"Mmm hmm," I reply through my sleeve.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" Darren asks Evra.

"Sam dropped by earlier looking for you," Evra explains while I chip away at the dried blood on my face and hands. "I told him you were away on a walk. He's waiting on you by the forest."

"Oh, OK," Darren sighs.

"Who's Sam?" I ask, dabbing my tongue on my sleeve and using it to clean the blood away. Why didn't I think of that earlier?

"He's boy from the nearby town. Nice kid. Loves the Cirque," Darren explains.

"Are normal people allowed here?" I ask.

"Sure," Evra answers. "Just not allowed to join or anything."

"Poor Sam doesn't seem to get that," Darren sighs. "I better go to him then."

"I think you should," Evra replies.

"What do I do?" I frown.

"Go with him," Evra says. "I'm sure Sam would be happy to meet another freak."

"Hey!" I snap. "I'm not a freak!" Evra rolls his eyes at me and I glare at the snake boy in irritation.

"Freak isn't an insult here," Darren explains. "In fact, being called normal is more of the insult."

"Oh," I frown. "Uh . . . thanks?"

"No problem," he sighs in agitation before turning back to tend to his snake.

When we reach the exit of the tent, Darren stops, pauses, and turns me round to face him. "There's a cut on your cheek," he says.

"What?" I frown, reaching up to touch my cheek. There's an immediate sting on contact and I flinch back. How did that get there? Maybe Steve accidently did it when he stabbed Mr. Kersey?

"Here, I'll sort it," Darren says. I frown as he licks his hand and gasp as he runs it down my face.

"EW! GROSS!" I yell, wiping at my face. "What's wrong with you!?"

"It's super spit," he clarifys. "It cures wounds."

"Oh . . . still . . . EW!" I rub off any spit left on my face in disgust and shake myself as if it'll rid me of the germs.

"Your welcome," he says before exiting.

"Sorry," I say, hurrying over to join him. "Thanks."

As we walk in a different direction towards a different part of the forest, I wonder how long it's been since Darren 'died.' I can't seem to remember anymore. He'd been dead a week when Mr. Tiny kindapped Steve and I but after that time seemed silly to keep.

"You . . . killed your mother?" Darren asks, breaking the silence. I hesitant before answering.

"Yes," I reply.

"Wh-why?"

"Steve said you wouldn't understand. Your parents love you right?" I say quietly. I catch Darren nod out of the corner of my eye. "Well, my mom didn't. And I didn't love her either. She was arrested when I was a kid for molesting a student in her history class but got out due to lack of evidence. For years I've been too afraid to have friends over at my house in case this happened again to them. So I killed her for ruining my life."

Darren is silent and I take it as speechless. Whenever I tell people of my mother's history they never know how to reply. I don't blame them really. What could he say? 'I'm sorry?' Please, I've heard that a thousand times. I don't need to make it a thousand and one.

"So, how did this happen to you?" I ask, changing the subject. "How did you become a vampire?"

"I'm not a vampire. I'm a half vampire. I can go out in the daylight and such," Darren corrects. "And I did it to save Steve."

"Did what?"

"Let Crepsley blood me. It was the only way he'd give me the anitdote for Octa's bite. I'm now his assitant," he explains. "I do everything for him."

He became what he is today . . . to save Steve? That's so selfless it makes me feel awful for ever thinking he betrayed his best friend for stealing his dream. God, I'm such a bitch.

"Hi Darren!" A boy called, waving frantically while clutching a shoulder bag.

"Hey Sam," Darren greets. The boy grins happily without a care in the world.

"Who's your friend?" he asks.

"This is Scarlet. Scarlet, say hello to Sam," Darren says.

"Uh . . . hello Sam," I say, waving nervously.

"Hi! I'm Sam Grest! I'm going to join the Cirque someday!" Sam says. Sam is actually a nice kid. Very sweet and innocent. He desperately wants to be part of the Cirque. Why I don't know. If he has a happy enough life, why would he want to go on the road with the freaks?

"The circus was great! Thanks for the tickets!" Sam cheers. "R.V was acting a bit strange. I dunno want was wrong with him but I really enjoyed it!"

"Who's R.V?" I ask.

"Doesn't matter," Darren replies.

"Now I've made my mind up," Sam says. "Now I really, really, really want to join the Cirque du Freak!"

"Didn't I explain this to you before Sam?" Darren sighs. "It's not a place for normal people like you."

"I'm not backing down anymore!" Sam replies.

"Look kid, it's not what it's cracked up to be," I say. "Being a freak."

"So? I want to be awesome like Darren!" Sam says. "He's really strong, and he can control spiders! But he, and you really, look normal and that's why I bet I could get in!"

"But Sam," Darren says. "That's because I'm a half . . ."

"What?" Sam asks.

"Nothing," he replies. I sigh at this. Being a vampire-or vampaneze probably-is a lonely life. You can't tell anyone want you are in fear that they'll think your a monster. I was afraid Darren would think me a monster because I killed my own mother. But he didn't. Maybe Darren Shan is the closest I'm ever going to get to a friend who accepts me.

"But this isn't something I can decide on my own," Darren continues.

"Then talk to the owner!" Sam insists. "Put in a good word with Mr. Tall for me! Please!"

"We are friends aren't we?" Darren replies with a ghost of a smile. "Okay, I'll ask. But before we go to Mr. Tall, I'll check with Mr. Crepsley first."

"Really?! When, when?!" Sam asks. The kid's enthusiausm makes me smile.

"I'll ask right now," Darren says. "Hang on a minute."

"Thank you Darren! Thank you!"

I follow Darren over to Mr. Crepsley's tent-an attempt to avoid any awkward silences with Sam. The old man is in the same seat in his tent, having a silent conversation with Madam Octa. He doesn't look up immediately, and continues to talk in hushed tones to the insect. Darren clears his throat to draw Crepsley's attention.

"What?" the orange haired man asks.

"What do you think of Sam, Crepsley?" Darren questions.

"Grest? Nice enough kid," Crepsley replies. "Why?"

"He wants to join the Cirque," Darren says. "He's a really good worker, and he's willing to do anything to get in." Crepsley's silent, biting his lip as if mulling it over.

"Its not my decision," he says.

"I know. But I wanted to ask you if it was possible," Darren explains.

"Would it be possible?" I ask. "He does seem like a dedicated kid."

"There's only one condition if he can join the Cirque," Crepsley finally says.

"Really?" Darren and I ask at once.

"Sam must become a half vampire too."

~xXx~

_**2 mintues later:**_

"You bastard!" I yell. "Why would you say that?! He's just a kid!" I almost killed Crepsley. His request made me hit my limit and I almost killed him. Darren has me by my waist and his holding me back while I scream at him. What does the vampire himself think of this? I could swear he looks amused.

"Come on Scar, it's not happening," Darren says, lifting me into the air and dragging me out of the tent.

"He's a kid!" I continue to yell. "Why would you bring that upon someone?!"

I haven't been a Vampaneze for long but I do know one thing: I don't want to bring that fate onto anyone. And I think Darren is the same because he lies to Sam. We get to the outskirts of town before Darren finally tells him the truth. Or what Sam thinks is the truth.

"You can't join the Cirque," Darren tells Sam. The look on Sam's face makes my heart swell and break.

"Why not?" he asks.

"You think Scarlet and I are normal because we look like you," Darren says. "But the truth is we belong in cages. After the show we are locked up because we're dangerous. There's no way you'd ever be safe."

"I can handle it," Sam protests.

"Go home Sam," Darren says silently. "We could kill you."

"No! I don't believe you!" Sam says.

"Go home Sam!" Darren shouts, making me jump. "While you still can!" Sam's face crumples in defeat and sadness before he runs off down the road. I feel tears welling in my own eyes but I don't know why. I barely even know the kid. But his dream was just crushed infront of him. As soon as the boy is out of sight I pull Darren into a hug.

"That was very brave," I whisper. "I wouldn't have been able to do it."

"It was his dream to join us," Darren replies.

"I know," I reply. "Sometimes dreams just can't come true.

**A/N: Feels :(**


	6. The sheep murder fail

**A/N: Hey guys, so I recently got the first six books of the Saga of Darren Shan and I've read the first four books and (after being appalled at how wrong the movie was) I began writing to try and get this story back on track to match it. Things will still be left out or altered but I'm going to try and match it as best I can.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Darren Shan or his characters and plotlines.**

Chapter Six-The sheep murder fail

It's sickening. It really is. Animal blood. It is nothing compared to the sweet delicacy that is human blood. I can't drink any though. If I even have a single drop I won't be able to stop and I'll drain an innocent person dry. Why does fate have to be so cruel? Does thou not have something more important to do than be thou heartless bitch?

_"She'll be under your authority,"_ Mr. Tiny's voice sings in my ear that night as I try and sleep._ "You shall be the Vampaneze Lord. A prince if you will, and she'll be your Princess."_

_Steve scoffs at this and folds his arms. "I think there's better people to be my Princess than her." Mr. Tiny quirks and eyebrow and smirks._

_"I'm Des Tiny, I know everyone's destiny. And their feelings and emotions, and you may not know it now but your heart lies closer to home than you think."_

_"Sure, whatever."_

The word 'Princess' echos around in my head as I toss and turn, finally giving up and leaving the tent for some air. I take slow, steady breaths to calm myself and fan my face with my hands. What did he mean? I'm no-one's Princess, Queen, Acomplince, Aqauntiance or otherwise. Especially not Steve Leonard's.

_'I'm a Des Tiny, I know everyone's destiny.'_

The words make me shiver and I rub my arms, wishing I'd brought my jacket out with me. God, I'm so thirsty. Drinking Animal blood is like trying to survive on water and salt. How can Darren do this so easily? Is it because he's never drank a human before? He derserves a medal of honour for this. He must have his self control perfected down to a 'T'.

"You look terrible."

I spin round on my heel and am alarmed to see a silohuette sitting ontop of Darren and Evra's tent. I jump backwards and hold my hand infront of me as if about to do a karate chop, ready to do some damage with my nails if needed. The shapeless silohuette moves off the tent and jumps onto a smaller one close by. The light coming from a nearby lantern lights up their face.

It's Steve.

"Steve!" I exclaim. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice welcome," Steve scoffs. "Hello to you too."

"Your one to talk," I mutter. "'You look terrible'? Cheery hello that one is."

"I'm just stating facts," Steve answers. "You. Look. A. Mess."

"And you still look like you've been poked repeatedly with an elecotric pole," I retort. It pisses me off that he actually looks better than he did when I last saw him. I bet he's been drinking loads between the time I ran off from him and now. What makes things worse is that this fact makes me jealous.

"Haven't been drinking then huh?" he teases.

"No," I reply. "Because it's wrong." Steve chuckles and I scowl at him.

"Once a Vampanze, always a Vampaneze Scarlet," he says. "You can't just 'fix' yourself and go vegan."

"Shut up," I snap. "I can change."

"You think you can change but you really can't."

"Darren's helping me."

Steve's grin widens which makes his face look even more malicious than before. "Darren?" he laughs. "Poor sod won't know what hit him when he first drinks."

"He's not going to drink," I scoff.

"He will. Eventually."

"I don't think he will," I answer. "He's stronger than the both of us put together." Steve quirks an eyebrow and I scowl back at him. "What do you want?"

"You can't just run away like that Scarlet," Steve answers, suddenly serious. "Mr. Tiny knows your not wild or feral so if you don't come back then they're going to come and bring you back by force."

"What?"

"I'm your warning," Steve states. "Come back or we'll bring you back. More Vampaneze will come and get you."

"Under whose authority," I scoff.

Steve straightens up, looking down on me with a serious look in his eyes before he answers me.

"Mine."

And with that, he flits away, leaving me standing by the tent, wondering what he means. Then it sets in. Panic bubbles to the surface and my heart jumps into my throat. They're coming to get me. They're coming to get me. _THEY'RE COMING TO GET ME!_

_Under whose authority?_

_Mine._

I end up screaming my head off before passing out.

~xXx~

My eyes open and my vision blurrs before everything comes crashing back down on me and I shriek in horror. It's morning and I'm lying inside the tent but I'm soon up on my feet and freaking out. Where do I go? Do I leave the Cirque? Do I tell Darren?

No. I can't. It'll probably just freak him out. I'm going to just have to suck it up and be brave for once in my life. I ran away from the Vampaneze and I'll have to take the punishment. No matter how awful that may be.

"Morning Scarlet."

"Gah!" I exclaim, whipping round to the source of the voice. I immediately relax when I see that it's Darren, looking alarmed at my reaction.

"I caught you outside just before dawn, you could have burned to death," Darren says. "I dragged you in here quick before the light got you."

"Oops," I frown, casting a glance to the light that's pouring in through the tent entrance. "Uh . . . my bad."

"You could have been killed," Darren comments.

"Yes but I wasn't," I reply. "So what do you do round here?"

"Evra and I do some chores. Everyone has to pull their weight," Darren explains.

"I see," I answer.

Evra emerges from his hammock with a grin on his face. "You didn't think you'd get to stay around here without doing anything?" he smirks.

"No," I lie. "So what do I do?"

"You can help us," Darren says.

"Yeah, first thing we need to do is tend to my snake," Evra smiles.

"Your . . . what?" I frown. "HOLY SHIT THAT'S A REAL SNAKE!" I yell as the reptile slithers out from the darker parts of the tent and over to Evra.

"Well, yeah," Evra frowns. "You did see the show right?"

"I THOUGHT IT WAS FAKE!" I screech. Evra grins and picks the snake up, wrapping it round his neck before approaching me. "Keep away from me with that thing!"

"She won't hurt you," Darren says.

"I don't do things that slither," I reply. "They're too creepy. Just keep it away from me OK?"

"Can't gurantee she'll not want to snuggle with you in the middle of the night," Evra warns.

"OK, that's it, I'm outta here!" I declare. Evra and Darren laugh as I march off to the exit of the tent before stopping as my toes nearly touch the sunlight but not quite. They both walk ahead of me and stand in the daylight with cocky grins on their faces. The snake is no longer round Evra's neck but I can't help sneaking a glance behind me to make sure she isn't following.

I'm such a coward.

~xXx~

"Couldn't you just like . . . open up the lid and let him burn to death?" I ask as Darren dusts Mr. Crepsley's coffin.

"Well, yeah, but it'd be stupid," Darren replies.

"Why?" I ask, keeping myself shrouded from the light in the darkest part of the tent.

"Because I need him for guidance," Darren explains. "_I_ don't know how to behave like a vampire properly. There's like rules and stuff. Didn't Mr. Tiny tell you that?"

"Well I was given a mentor," I frown. "But he wasn't much use. Just told us how to kill."

"Oh that's nice," Darren says sarcastically.

"I know right?" I laugh drily. "It was a bundle of laughs."

"Certainly sounds it," Evra says. He still thinks I'm a vampire, but a vampire that got on the wrong side of things but escaped. I don't think he'd like me very much if he knew I killed two people because I was thirsty.

As night falls a little blue hooded person-who Darren explains is one of Mr. Tiny's 'Little people'-approaches us and rubs his belly to say that's he's hungry. Apparently it's Evra and his job to find animals for them to eat. Dead, alive, newly born or road kill, it doesn't matter as long as they can eat it. Evra doesn't join us on the search because after cleaning Mr. Crepsley's coffin he discovered that his snake had caught a virus. So it was just Darren and me while he looked after her.

"Jeez, the roads are normally full of roadkill," Darren says as we trek up the pebbled road. We had tried catching some live animals but the damn creatures were too fast. I took a moment of frustation and blamed it on Darren for making me drink damn animal blood but soon came to my senses and apologized.

"Maybe there wasn't many people travelling tonight?" I suggest. "Or the wildlife has had a recent 'road safety' lesson?" Darren rubbed his face, a clear sign that he was tired, and sighed.

"Let's just get a sheep from the field over there," he says.

"Are you allowed to do that?" I ask.

"Farmers barely count their animals," Darren replies. "And we leave them money sometimes."

"Sounds good to me," I answer, jogging ahead and attempting a jump over the field fence, only to not jump high enough and catch my foot at the top. I swing forward and slam face first into the wood, moaning on contact. I hear Darren chuckle as he approaches. "Did I mention that this is your fault for making me a vegetarian?" I request.

"Once or twice," he replies, opening up the gate and going in the human way.

We search for a weak or sick sheep so that it won't be missed. It's actually quite a difficult feat to accomplish in the dark but we manage to find a little weakling at the back of the herd.

"OK, this shouldn't be too hard," I tell Darren. "Just snap her neck!"

"I know how to kill a sheep Scarlet," Darren replies.

"Then it do it," I huff, folding my arms. Darren rubs his hands together before taking both sides of the sheep's neck. He jerks her head to the side, but not strongly enough so she just bleats in pain and scrambles away. "You idiot! How could you have messed that up?!"

"I guess the lack of human blood is finally getting to me," Darren says gravely. I roll my eyes and run after the retreating animal. I launch at it and land on it's back. Rolling over so it's on my stomach and grab it's neck and twist. It bleats in protest again but the neck doesn't snap. I growl in agitation and twist again. Another cry of pain but no snap.

"Just die already!" I yell at the terrified animal. As I try and try to twist harder Darren appears above me and brings something down hard on the sheep's head. Blood splatters everywhere before the creature slumps against me, dead. "I readied her for you," I say.

"Of course you did," Darren answers sarcastically, grabbing the sheep and hauling it over his shoulder. I clambour to my feet and follow him back to the gate.

"I did!" I protest.

"Oh, and Scarlet, when we get to the fence you go through the _gate_ like a proper person OK? No leaping over fences and giving yourself a concussion," Darren says.

"I'm not an idiot," I mumble.

"You'd think not."

As we approached the gate, a figure sat on the fence. Against the moonlight it looked like a shadow but as we neared I realized it was a big, hairy man. He looks like a fat big foot who stinks to high heaven. He doesn't look happy.

"R.V.?" Darren frowns.

"Your R.V.?" I ask. "Man, ever heard of soap? Or a razor?"

"R.V.'s an eco warrior," Darren explains. "For the NOP."

"What'cha got there Darren?" R.V. asks, eyeing the dead sheep.

"Nothing," Darren replies.

"Certainly looks like something," R.V. replies. Sensing that this guy was trouble and that Darren didn't want him to know we killed a sheep, I jump in with one of my 'kinda clever but not really' lies.

"This sheep just died of starvation," I say. "The farmer told us to dispose of it."

"Oh did he now?" R.V. asks.

"Uh-huh," I reply, rocking back and forth on my feet and clucking my tongue.

"Looks like someone pounded her head in with a rock," R.V. answers.

"You used a rock!?" I hiss at Darren.

"Well you couldn't snap it's neck either!" Darren hisses back.

"I was getting close!" I protest.

Darren snorts in amusement. "Yeah, right."

"That was not cool man," R.V. says. "That animal was a living creature and you just brutally murdered her! What did she ever do to you?!"

"Nothing, she's a sheep," I frown.

"A sick sheep!" Darren puts in.

"I'm going to report you to the police and the health inspectors will be down on you like a ton of bricks," R.V. says solemnly.

"R.V. listen," Darren says. "We don't have to be enemies. Come back to camp with me. Talk to Mr. Tall and the others. See how we live. Get to know and understand-"

"Save it man, I'm going to the police," R.V. interuppts.

Darren rolls his eyes and throws the sheep corspe at R.V. with impressive force, knocking the sasquash off the fence. "Wow, how'd you do that man?" R.V. splutters as Darren leaps over the fence and lands ontop of him.

"Never mind that," Darren snaps.

"Kids can't throw sheep!"

I clambour over the fence more carefully than before and pick the discarded sheep's corpse up from the ground. "You just saw him throw it," I mutter as I haul the animal over my shoulder. "Are you stupid or something?"

"Listen Reggie Veggie-" Darren growls.

"Hold up," I interuppt. "'Reggie Veggie'? Oh my lord is that your name!?" I howl with laughter and double over once a stitch grows. "Reggie Veggie!" I laugh. Darren continues to threaten R.V. to the point where I stop laughing and frown at the personality change. He looks different, Darren does, when he's angry. It's almost scary.

After threatening him throughly, Darren gets off the trumatized vegetarian, hooks his arm in the crook of my elbow and says, "So long, Reggie Veggie." We both walk off, too scared to look back the terrified mess of a man behind us.

**A/N: How's that? I had to skip out the visit to Jimmy because I was passed it but I hope putting the sheep in with R.V. will get me back on track to be like the books. What do you think? Is it OK?**

**Please R&R! :D**


	7. Long Live Sam Grest

**A/N: Hi! Here's chapter seven, hope you enjoy it. Well, I don't think you will because of the tragic death in it but you know what I mean :/**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing Darren Shan does. Sadly. Tragically.**

Chapter Seven-Long live Sam Grest

"Did you see that?" Darren asks.

"What?" I frown, looking around. "I didn't see anything." A show is currently going on before the we move on to the next location for the Cirque but Darren didn't need to be part of Mr. Crepsley's act tonight which freed us up to hunt the sheep. As soon as we left R.V we reported everything that happened to Mr. Tall and suggested moving on soon. The tall man agreed and said they'd hold one more show before moving on. We were in charge of spreading the word and covered everyone before sunset.

"A shadow," Darren murmers. "Heading towards where the wolf man's kept."

"Is that bad?"

"Depends on who it is."

"I'll go check who it is," I say. "It's probably nothing." I flit across the campground to arrive at the wolf man's tent faster and come to a stop at the entrance, slightly dazed due to lack of practice. I shake my head to clear it and immediately tune into a clinking noise that resembles metal scraping against metal. I gasp at the sight of R.V trying to de-chain the Wolf Man's cage to set the animal free. "You moron!" I shriek. "What the hell do you think your doing!"

"Stopping the injustice man," R.V answers simply. A faint panting is heard behind me and Darren comes to a stop beside me, panting and rasping having ran the whole way by foot.

"I heard shrieking," he gasps. "Thought you were in trouble!"

"We are in trouble!" I exclaim. "Veggie Reggie or whatever the hell he's called is trying to free the Wolf Man!"

"R.V!" Darren exclaims. "What are you doing?!"

"Keeping this poor creature locked up!" R.V scoffs in disgust. "You people are monsters!"

"We aren't the monsters!" Darren replies. "If you let him free he's going to kill everyone!"

"If it's in his nature then so be it," R.V answers.

"Your a deranged nutjob!" I exclaim. "A stinky deranged nutjob! Do you know the damage you'll cause by setting him free?!"

"I live to help any helpless creature. I believe animals act on the way they're treated. If I show him respect, he'll give me respect back," R.V says, still working on the chains.

"You don't understand," Darren insists. "He'll kill everyone! It's how he was born and no amount of respect will change that."

"I don't agree," R.V simply says. Oh my god this man's skull is as thick as two short planks! The Wolf Man snarls in his cage and I shiver; he's always spooked me. As Darren continues to try and persuade the NOP member that he's doing the wrong thing, the Wolf Man suddenly lurches forward and bites off R.V's hands in two quick chomps. I slap my hands over my mouth in horror but frown in confusion as R.V continues to agrue with Darren as if nothing's happened.

Darren stops arguing as he sees the missing hands too and peers round R.V at the wolf man as he chews at the decapitated hands. "R.V . . ." he says. The Eco Warrior stops argueing and looks down at the bloody, fleshy stumps that sits in place instead of his hands. He shrieks and stumbles backwards.

"You took my hands!" he roars. "You stole them!"

"R.V come with us, we need to get them sewed up," Darren says, stepping forward.

"Stay back! You took my hands!" R.V yells. "My hands! My hands!" He suddenly launches himself forward and runs out of the tent and into the distance yelling, "My hands! My hands!" like a lunitic.

The blood from his hands wafts up my nose and makes me dizzy, causing me to grip hold of Darren's shoulder to resist the urge to run after him and drink all of the blood from his body. "You Ok?" Darren asks.

"Yeah, I will be," I reply, clutching my stomach and ignoring the insistant rumblings.

A rusty creaking catches our attention and we slowly turn our heads towards the cage. The cage which now lies open and has the Wolf Man standing in the entrance. R.V must of gotten it open before he bit off his hands! I resist the urge to scream-remembering from the Cirque that you need to be absoloutly quiet-and swallow the initial fear. The three of us stare at each other for a considerable amount of time-sizing each other up and calculating each other's next move-before the Wolf Man leapt clean over our heads with a howl and bounds off in the same direction as R.V.

Darren and I spin round and see a retreating figure running away from the Wolf Man into the forest. I wonder who the poor sucker is. We better go to Mr. Tall and tell him what's happened-

My thoughts are interuppted as Darren stands in the grass and drops something to the ground before running off in the same direction as the Wolf Man.

"Darren!" I yell. "Come back!" He doesn't listen and continues to run. I jog over to the object he dropped and frown as I pick it up. A jar of Pickled Onions? I vaguely recognize the scent from somewhere before . . . Sam! Sam Grest had a tint of Pickled Onions to his scent! Oh my god the Wolf Man's after Sam!

I drop the jar and flit off in the same direction as Darren. After five minutes the lack of human blood finally gets to me and I fall into a regular run. I take many wrong turns trying to find them but after about twenty mintues of mindless running and panicing I come out in a clearing by an abandoned train station. It takes a moment to adjust to my surroundings but I soon see the Wolf Man in the middle of the clearing, eating something, and Darren unconcious off to the side. As I slowly approach I realize what the Wolf Man is eating exactly. A body. And not just any ordinary body. Sam Grest's body.

Unable to control my anger I scream at the freak in rage and use all my strength to launch myself at him. The Wolf Man howls in annoyance at my actions and tries to shake me off but I don't let him, gripping the sides of his neck and hanging onto the fur. Thinking on my feet, I bare my teeth and stick them into his neck. Another howl escapes the animal only this one is of pain. I plunge my teeth in deeper until enough blood escapes and the wolf slowly slumps to the ground and goes unconcious. I sit there for a while, both legs on either side of the Wolf Man's body and my teeth coated in a thick layer of blood. I don't know how long I stay like this but I get snapped out of it when Darren wakes up and discovers Sam's body.

"Sam," he whimpers, holding the boy's body close to his. I get off the wolf and approach them and bite back a sob as I see that most of Sam's insides are gone-that there's no hope of saviour.

"I'm so sorry Darren," I whisper.

A herd of Little People, Mr. Crepsley and Mr. Tall soon arrive and take the wolf man away. Mr. Crepsley crouches beside us. "You can save him," Darren whispers. "With your spit."

"I'm sorry Darren, it's too deep a wound," Mr. Crepsley replies grimly. "It's too late. But there is something you can do."

"What?"

"Drink his blood."

"What?!" I roar. "Are you that sick?! He's just lost a friend and your still concerned about him drinking blood!?"

Mr. Crepsley ignores me and continues, "If you drink his blood then a part of his spirit will always be with you. He'll be with you always."

I look at the mutilated body that was once Sam Grest and try to control my trembling lip. "You should do it," I conclude. "He could travel with us and the Cirque like he always wanted."

"I can't," Darren croaks.

I kneel beside him and pull Sam's floppy head away from Darren's chest and hold the neck out to him. "Do it," I say. "For Sam." Tears stream down Darren's cheeks as he comes to his decision and plunges his teeth in the soft flesh of Sam's neck. With Sam's body securely cradled between his legs, Darren rocks back and forth slightly as he sucks the blood out of the boy's body. Tears of my own drip off my face and my throat aches from holding them back. When all the blood's gone he drops the body and I wrap my arms around him and let him sob into my neck. Mr. Crepsley looks stoic as I comfort Darren and tell him that everything will be alright.

We bury Sam by the station, so it'll be easy to find, and say some words, like a proper memorial, and leave to let the body be found.

Back at the Cirque, we find Evra and tell him the news. He's just as hurt and devastated as Darren and I and we sit in a circle in the tent in silence, unable to say anything. Some of the Wolf Man's blood is still on my teeth but I'm not bothered as we sit and silently cry, letting the tears hit the ground over and over again in steady drips.

We get in a van later as the Crique leaves and Evra puts a bag in Darren's lap as the van pulls out. "I found that," he says.

"What is it?" I question.

"Sam's bag," he answers. "I thought he might want it."

Darren reads the name tag on the bag and bursts into tears again, sobbing bitterly. The three of us huddle together in a hug and cry together, releasing the pain and heartache and setting it loose.

"Mr. Crepsley told me what exactly happened," Evra says once it's died down to stifled sniffles and choked sobs. "He said you drank Sam's blood to keep his spirit alive."

"Apparently," Darren answers weakly. "I don't feel any different."

"It might take a while to set in?" I suggest, pulling my knees into my chest. "Look, you do know your not evil for drinking human blood right?" Darren weakly shrugs.

"It was an act of goodness, not evil," Erva adds. "You shouldn't feel bad for drinking for the greater good."

"I guess," Darren answers, moaning at the memory and hiding his face.

As the night wore on I watched as the Cirque got smaller and smaller until I couldn't see it anymore. I wonder whether the Vampaneze will be able to find me now that I've moved. Hopefully not. A small part of me though tells me they'll always be able to find me. No-one matter how long and far I run, they'll always somehow find me.

"I'm hungry," Evra says after a while. "Do you guys want anything?"

I shrug. "No thanks Evra," I say.

"No thank you," Darren adds.

I watch as Evra walks away but Darren stops him by calling out, "Wait a sec." Evra turns back round and I shift to look at him too. I watch the conflicting emotions cross his face before he frowns and asks something that lifts the spirits of us all.

"Do we have any Pickled Onions?"

A smile spreads across Evra's face and I laugh, hugging Darren in glee.

Long Live Sam Grest. You'll always be here with us.

**A/N: I was devastated when Sam died. It was so sad I cried for ages :/**

**Then just yesterday I was reading 'Trials of Death' and Gavner when was murdered I nearly died myself! I was near tears when Kurda stabbed him but his last words tore me up and I burst! It was awful! X'O**

**Anyway, enough of my petty emotions, R&R?**


	8. The flying cross-

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Here's chapter eight ^_^**

**Also, I'm involving Evra more than before in the fic as I was really pissed off when I read Vampire Moutain and discovered that Evra and Darren weren't close anymore! Why did Evra have to go and grow up! :O**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. How irritating, huh?**

Chapter Eight-The flying cross and the snake with attitude problems

"I hope you realize you're failing epically at this," I say as Darren stands beside me with his hand held out infront of him, trying to move a cross with his mind. Recently Mr. Crepsley has been doing it and it's been bothering Darren on how it's done so we've been standing in the woods by the new Cirque campground while he tries to move it. So far? It hasn't been working. It's daytime but the trees cast dark enough shadows to keep me shielded from the sun.

"I can do it," Darren argues. "If Crepsley can, I can too."

"You know he'd skin you alive if he knew you were just calling him Crepsley," I reply. "The 'Mr' part if very important. To him anyway."

Since we moved from the old Cirque campground Mr. Crepsley has taught Darren and I how to drink in small portions from humans. Since drinking Sam, Darren has been unable to go back to animal blood. It's been easier for him-Crepsley trusted him to drink small portions from the get go-but since I have drank people dry in the past, he's been giving me blood from a small vial instead of drinking straight from a human. I guess it's for the best, I don't know if I'd be able to control myself yet. I don't even trust myself.

"Hold on, let me try," I say, walking over to where he stands and holding my hand out too. I squint as hard as I can and click my fingers. It doesn't work. The cross stays where it is. "Nope, not working. I'm voting on witchcraft, what about you?"

"Black magic," Darren states solemnly, making me snigger.

I crouch between Darren and the cross and wait in a defence stance as if waiting for it fly to him any second as he holds his hand out again. "OK, click!" Darren clicks his fingers on my demand but nothing happens. I fall back on my haunches and frown.

As Darren has another go at moving the cross, Mr. Crepsley emerges from the trees, immediately frowing at Darren and what he's doing. "What are you doing?" he asks. Darren snatches the cross and hides it behind his back while I stand up properly and sling my arm over his shoulders to help hide it.

"What is that?"

"Pff, nothing," I reply causally. Mr. Crepsley quirks his eyebrow at me and I crack under the scrutiny. "Fine, it's a cross we found while hunting!"

"Wait to hold out Scar!" Darren says, bringing his arms back round from behind his back, the cross held in his left hand.

"Sorry, it's just that _look_ he gives!" I reason. Darren rolls his eyes but a smirk grows on his face.

"What are you doing with it?" Mr. Crepsley asks.

"Trying to make it move," we both mumble under our breaths.

"How do you do it?" Darren asks.

A smile spreads across Mr. Crepsley's face, making the scar that runs down the left side crinkle. "Ah, so that's what's been bothering you," he says.

"How do you do it?" I ask.

"Can only full vampires do it?" Darren asks.

"Oh! Can still part vampaneze do it?" I enquire.

"I'll demonstrate again," Mr. Crepsley says. "Put the cross back where you had it just now." Darren does what he's told and we both take a step back, ready to watch and take notes like students out on a field trip. Mr. Crepsley holds his hand out like we did and clicks his fingers. The cross disappears and reappears in his hands again like he's done so many times with various other objects recently.

"That's it!" I conclude. "Witchcraft! I knew there was something fishy about you Larten Crepsley, you've been cohorting with witches!" Mr. Crepsley gives me an exasperated look and sighs.

"Watch again." He tosses Darren the cross and Darren puts it back to the same spot as before. He clicks his fingers again and it does the same as before.

"Black magic," Darren says. "Told you Scar. I wish I'd bet money on it or something."

"Watch carefully," Mr. Crepsley says. "Notice everything." This time Darren and I lean in close and watch as he clicks his fingers, making the cross disappear and reappear, not even daring to blink. This time I catch the slightest blurr between in the millisecond that the cross disappears and reappears. When I see Mr. Crepsley back in his orginal postion, tossing the cross up and down with a smirk on his face, my mouth hangs open. "Rumbled me yet?" he asks.

"It looked . . ." I trail off.

"You didn't move the cross!" Darren exclaims. "_You _moved!"

"Not as dull as you appear," Mr. Crepsley says in response.

"But . . . but . . . that's cheating!" I declare. "You cheat! That's . . . that's . . . wait . . . why click your fingers?"

"To distract the eye," Mr. Crepsley grins.

Darren and I exchange an excited look before bursting out, "Can we learn to do it?!"

"In time," Mr. Crepsley says solemnly. "You cannot move fast enough yet, but you could maybe do it with objects close at hand. You'd have to practice hard but I'am willing to teach you." I grab the cross off him and throw it up in the air before catching it again.

"I'm going to be a magician!" I laugh. Darren catches the cross as I throw it up for the fifth time and spins it on his finger like a basketball.

"I've always wanted to be a magician," he says. "Can we do locks?"

"Ah, those are diffierent," Mr. Crepsley says. "Are you familar with static energy?" He sighs at our blank expressions. I remember doing a science project on it once but that was when I was ten, I can't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning! "Have you even brushed a comb through your hair and held a piece of paper to it?"

"Yeah!" Darren says. "The paper sticks!"

"That is static energy. I have the ability to harness that energy to unlock doors," Mr. Crepsley says. I run this through my brain and I can't help being impressed. It irritates me but you have to conceed once and a while and give people credit. I suddenly feel very heated so I back away into the trees a bit and lurk in the darkness.

"Then why click your fingers?" I ask through the shade of the tress.

"Old habits die hard," Mr. Crepsley shrugs.

"But old vampires die easy!" a voice growls. Before I can blink, someone new has flitted between Darren and Mr. Crepsley and has pressed razor sharp knives against their throats! I don't recognize them at all and I panic, immediately seeing them as a threat (well _duh_ Scarlet, they're holding knives to their necks!) Before Darren and Mr. Crepsley have time to react, the impulsive part of myself has screamed and charged towards the assaliant, leaping into the air and wrapping my arms round their neck and dragged them to the ground. They're heavy, I'll give them that, but I just about manage to ground them. As soon as we hit the grass though, the person has wrapped their hand round my neck-cutting off my air supply-and is standing with my body between their legs, pushing me into the ground and making me slide forward slightly. As soon as I feel sunlight burning off tinges of my hair from the top of my head I panic, remembering the patch of sunlight that shone through the leaves and lit up a small patch of the grass in the forest.

Mr. Crepsley's laughter confuses me as he places a hand on the person's shoulder and chuckles, "Gavner, Gavner, Gavner, I could always hear you coming half a mile away!" The person-Gavner?-'s grip loosens on my neck as his face melts into distress.

"Not true!" he says peevishly. "You couldn't have heard!"

"Scarlet, Darren, meet Gavner. Gavner, this is Darren Shan and Scarlet Halliday." Mr. Crepsley looks at Darren and I's horrified expressions at his friendly nature towards the man who just tried to kill us-him too! "Shame on you Gavner Purl, you've frightened them!" Gavner Purl isn't very tall but is built like a wrestler and his face is a miss mash of dark patches and scars. His eyes are jet black and his hair is brown and cut short.

Slapping his hand away from my throat and scrambling to my feet, I touch the top of my head and gasp as brunt stands fall away. "You ass! You burnt my hair!" I yell. Ganver regards me with shock at my outburst. "What did I ever do to you?!"

"Is that the Vampaneze?" he asks Mr. Crepsley. "The one you're trying to save? Oh! And your dear assitant! _The_ Darren Shan?"

"That's them," Mr. Crepsley replies.

"Better watch out girl, only a matter of time before you turn purple," Gavner says. My eyes widen in confusion and I frown.

"What?"

"She was only a proper Vampaneze for about half an hour," Mr. Crepsley explains. "She doesn't understand." Gavner nods in understanding and winks at me knowinly.

"Pleased to meet you both," he says, looking between Darren and I. "_You_ didn't hear me coming did you?"

We both shake our heads in sync and say, "No."

"Ha! See?" Gavner says to Mr. Crepsley.

"Congratulations," Mr. Crepsley replies drily.

"How long has it been Crepsley?" Gavner asks. "Fourteen years?"

"Fifteen next February," Mr. Crepsley corrects.

"Fifteen years!" Gavner exclaims. "That long? Wow!" He turns to us and smirks. "Does he still complain like an old woman when you wake him up?" Darren nods and I burst out laughing.

"Does _he_?" Darren giggles. "Oh you should hear him!"

"He reminds me of my grandmother when she wanted her feet rubbed!" I laugh.

"Could never get a positive word out of him until midnight. I had to share a coffin with him once for four whole months!" Gavner says, shivering at the memory. "Longest four months of my life."

"Four months?!" Darren exclaims.

"I can't even stand four minutes!" I say.

"We had to share," Gavner sighs. "We were being hunted."

"Jeez, you need to get an award," I reply.

"I was not the only one who had cause for complaint," Mr. Crepsley grunts. "Your snoring nearly drove me to face the sun myself!" I snigger but cover it up with a cough.

Mr. Crepsley and Gavner talk for a considerable amount of time and I actually learn a lot from what they talk about. About the Vampire Generals and the fact that Mr. Crepsley used to be one as well as Gavner. The thought of people watching over us to make sure we don't step out of line makes me shiver. I also learn that Crepsley could be in trouble for blooding Darren as you're not supposed to blood children. If that is true, shouldn't Murlough be in deep trouble then for blooding Steve and I? I haven't told Mr. Crepsley and Darren yet about Murlough. They know I had a mentor but they don't know who, what and why. I wanted to keep it that way but now I'm not so sure. I'm just about to ask about whether Murlough _should_ be in trouble when Crepsley dismisses Darren and I so Gavner and him can talk.

I grab my thick black blanket from the oak tree where I left it and throw it over my head to protect myself from the sunlight. "See you back at the Cirque?" I ask Darren.

"Yeah, see you there," Darren replies. We both agreed way back that it'd be easier if I just flitted through the sun with the blanket over my head than risk walking slowly with him and eventually burning to death.

I flit back to our tent at the Cirque and throw the blanket to the ground and grabbing my umbrella. I use the umbrella to keep myself in the shade as I walk around the campground during the day. I find Evra sitting by the campfire, his snake wrapped right round his neck and laying on his arm. I've been adjusting myself to Evra's snake. It took a while to believe that the thing wouldn't hurt me but once I did it wasn't that hard to be around it.

"Hey Evra," I say, sitting down beside him, resting the opened umbrella on my shoulder like a parasol.

"Hey Dracula," he replies. "Back so soon? Were you able to move the cross?"

"Nope," I sigh.

"Mr. Crepsley went looking for Darren and you. Did he show you?" he asks.

"Yeah," I answer.

"How then?"

"Witchcraft with a hint of black magic."

A frown forms on Evra's face and I smile at his confusion. "What?" he asks. I laugh and shake my head.

"Never mind."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Evra exclaims, lifting his hips off the ground and pulling something out of his pocket. I watch curiously as he pulls a pair of dark designer sunglasses out his short's pocket. "A woman left these behind at last night's show. They're yours if you want them."

"Really?" I ask, taking the glasses off him and examining them. "Awesome!" I put them on my face and strike a ridiculous pose. "What do you think?" Evra laughs and shakes his head.

"Like one of those weird celebrities who wear sunglasses when they're not needed," he chuckles. "You look ridiculous, hidden under the shade and yet still wearing sunglasses."

"I think we were past ridiculous when I started walking around the campground with an umbrella when it's not raining," I laugh. "I've also given myself about ten million years bad luck by opening it up inside the tent."

"Is that not irritating though?" Evra questions. "I mean, you have to carry that around and stay in the shade until it gets dark." His snake hisses and makes me jump slightly, making him grin at me. The sun makes his scales glisten slightly and I frown.

"What about you? Having scales instead of skin. Is _that_ not irritating?" I ask.

"Nah," Evra shrugs. "I've been like this since I was a baby. Not that bad if you're born with it. It's kinda like a bad skin condition really."

"Do you molt? Oh! Do you shed your skin?" I ask, transferring the umbrella from my left shoulder to my right.

"Do you really want to know?" Evra asks back, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Uh . . . no?"

"Good answer."

The sky suddenly rumbles and I realize how dark it's gotten because of the overcast clouds. I take a sniff of the air, like my mother said my dad used to do, and smell pertrichor: a clear sign of rain. As if on cue, small droplets of water drip from the sky and splash against the grass. "Who looks ridiculous now?" I snigger as Evra's hair matts to his head as the rain turns into a downpour. He scowls at me in response and I smile. "Come on, get under quick before you catch your death."

"I'll have you know that snakes can handle a little bit of rain," Evra says as various members of the camp hurry off to their tents and he huddles under the umbrella. I jerk backwards as the snake hisses at me.

"Yeah, sure, big guy," I reply, patting him on the back. His scales feel funny under my hand and I try and hide the grimace I feel growing on my face. Hopefully I'll adjust to it the same way I'm trying to adjust to his snake with serious attitude problems. As the rain gets heavier, a figure emerges from the trees, soaking wet and panting.

"Hey," I say as Darren sits down across from us. He doesn't bother getting under the umbrella as he's already soaked through.

"Hey guys," Darren says. "I was just talking to Gavner as he was leaving, that's what took me so long getting back. Then I went to see Mr. Crepsley."

"Yeah?" Evra asks. Darren nods and then smiles.

"How would guys like to go on a trip?"

**A/N: Once again, sorry it took so long ^_^**

**Please R&R :D**


	9. The Big City

_**A/N: Sorry for the delay! My account messed up and I couldn't log in for ages! Sorry it's short but I'm working on getting them longer again.**_

_**Somewhere half way through this the writing style changes to past tense as my style as changed slightly since I began writing this.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Darren Shan or his saga. Or Percy Jackson. Or Journey to the Center of the Earth.**_

Chapter Nine

"Have you died yet?"

"What?" I frown as I pack a bag with Darren and Evra that night. Apparently Mr. Crepsley has some buisness in the city and wants Darren to come with him. He said that Evra and I could join him which is kind of confusing. I thought he didn't like me, how could he stick being stuck with me in the city for a certain length of time? Now that will be fun to see pan out.

"I said, have you died yet?" Darren repeats.

"No, because I'm still alive," I reply, poking him in the arm. "See? Still solid."

"When Mr. Crepsley turned me into a half vampire I had to fake my death so that there would be no-one looking for me when I left with him," Darren explains. "Did whoever turned you do that for you?"

"No," I answer, shoving my umbrella into the bag. "Should he of?"

"Well, it means there will be people maybe searching for a Scarlet Halliday looking just like you when we get into the city," Darren replies. "I'm sure it's no big deal."

"There's no-one to have started searching for me anyway," I say. "I mean, my mom's dead and there's no-one else who cares."

"The police are," Evra suddenly says. "Looking for you, I mean."

"Oh? What makes you say that?" I ask.

"I heard Mr. Tall and Crepsley talking . . ." Evra trails off, biting his lip. "The police are looking for you because your mother was found dead. They think you're responsible."

"What do you mean?" I frown, dropping everything with the sudden interest of what the snakeboy is trying to say.

"Like in Percy Jackson when he went missing with Annabeth and Grover and his stepfather reported him to the police and it went public in newspapers and everyone was on the look out for the insolent boy everyone was talking about," Evra explains. "Someone, a neighbour probably, reprted to have seen you fleeing your home the night before your mother was discovered dead and told the police. You're the main suspect apparently."

"I'am?!" I exclaim. I know I was the one who killed her but for them to just assume that . . . well, I'm hurt.

"I mean, it's ridiculous to assume it was you right?" Evra says. "You didn't kill your own mother, right?" My silence makes him nervous and he chuckles nervously, "_Right?"_

"It doesn't matter Evra," Darren cuts in, saving my skin. I give him a look that expresses my thanks and he nods.

I don't want to remember what I did to my mother. And I don't want people to hate me for what I did. Especially someone who has become such a good friend as Evra has.

~xXx~

The city is strange. The smells and sounds hit me like a brick wall as soon as we arrived, probably because of my heighted Vampaneze senses. I know Darren feels it too: he had to stop and blink a couple of times to quell the feeling once we arrived.

We stay in a hotel.

Crepsley sleeps half the night. It's amusing to stand over him as he sleeps soundly on the bed-not his coffin. I have to fight to temptation to scout out some whipped cream, put it on his hand and tickle his nose. I think the thought of the look on his face when he wakes up is what keeps me from doing it.

To keep ourselves occupied during the day while our mentor slumbered, Darren, Evra and myself go out to explore the city. Obviously, I'd carry my umbrella around with me like an extra limb. We were back by nightfall of course. In case Mr. Crepsley lost his nut or something if he needed us. Then we'd sit inside and watch t.v and play some video games. It was almost like my life was back to normal.

It was fun trying to disguise Evra's scales. We experimented for ages with hats and paints before settling with a beard to cover the lower half of his face that couldn't be covered by a hat. The three of us looked a right sight: Evra with his fake beard; Darren in his pirate costume Truska made him; and me carrying around my umbrella 24/7.

I was surprised to discover that it was near Christmas. I don't know how long I've been a Vampaneze for now but it's certainly felt like years but in reality I think it was only a couple of months. Then again, I've never been that good at telling time.

Evra was sitting watching t.v on the floor while I lay smushed against the sofa cushions, a line of drool slipping out of my mouth as I napped. Darren came in wrapped up in warm clothes that he didn't really need-his vampire blood should be warm enough but it wasn't worth it to make a sence.

"You guys want to go shopping?" he asked. I groaned my disapproval, my eyes fluttering open to stare at the movie Evra was currently watching.

"No," I muttered. "Too tired."

"Can't be bothered," Evra agreed. "I don't want to put on all those heavy clothes."

Darren shrugged. "Suit yourselves," he replied. I glanced outside and wondered why he wanted to go out: it looked boltic outside! Snow lined the streets and the wind whipped people's clothes about their bodies. When Darren disappeared out the door, I rested my cheek against the pillow and sighed.

"What'cha watchin'?" I asked Evra as an ad for toothpaste burst onto the screen.

"Some movie. Bit strange. About some people who go on a journey to the center of the earth or something," he replied. I scoffed.

"Impossible. You'd be burnt to a crisp by the lava before you even reached the center," I said. Evra nodded his agreement in a zombie-like daze as he stared mindlessly at the screen. As ridiculous as the plot of the movie was, I found myself absorbed wholly into it only five minutes after it started up again.

Snowing outside. Warm and toasty inside. Watching t.v when I really should be getting exercise . . . yes, things almost felt normal again.

Except, of course, my reptile buddy, half-vampire best friend and full vampire mentor being the closest things to me.

Then again, nothing can be perfect, right?

_**A/N: Once again, sorry it's so short!**_

_**Please R&R! :D**_


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